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58th Congress, ) 

U.A.C, SENATE. 

j Document 

6 2d Session. j 

M 

{ No. 245. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


REPORT OF THE HEARING HELD FEBRUARY 3, 1904, BEFORE 
THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE IN RELATION TO THE IM¬ 
PROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, EMBODYING ALSO 
REPORT OF A CONVENTION HELD OCTOBER 27-28, 1903, AT 
NEW ORLEANS, FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THAT SUBJECT. 


April 4, 1904.—Presented by Mr. Berry and ordered to be printed. 


Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, 

Washington , I). C ., February 3 , 190%. 

The committee met at 10.30 o’clock a. m. 

Present: Senators Frye (chairman), Nelson, Gallinger, Depew, Per¬ 
kins, Foster of Washington, Quarles, Alger, Berry, Clay, Mallory, 
and Foster of Louisiana. 

There were also present Hon. James P. Clarke, Senator from 
Arkansas, and Hon. Adolph Meyer, Representative from Louisiana; 
Capt. Patrick Henry, of Arkansas; Hon. W. W. Heard, governor of 
Louisiana; Mr. Murray Smith, of Mississippi; Mr. Leroy Percy, of 
Mississippi, and a large delegation, representing the Interstate Missis¬ 
sippi River Improvement and Levee Association; Mr. Alexander G. 
Cochran, of St. Louis, and Mr. John L. Vance, of Ohio. 

Capt. Patrick Henry, of Arkansas, who had in charge the arrange¬ 
ments for the hearing before the committee, introduced Hon. W. W. 
Heard, governor of Louisiana, chairman of the delegation representing 
the Interstate Mississippi River Improvement and Levee Association, 
who called upon Mr. Murray Smith, of Mississippi, to read the resolu¬ 
tions passed by the association, which are as follows: 

First. After years of actual observation and experience, and sup¬ 
ported by the opinions of all engineers, whether from the Engineer 
Corps of'the Army or from civil life, who have been directly connected 
with the work of levee construction, we desire to affirm that we have 
the most absolute conlidence in the sufficiency of levees, when built 
according to correct standards, to protect the Mississippi Valley from 

° V “ In support of this declaration we beg leave to submit the following 
facts which have been fully established: An elaborate and careful 
investigation, made under the direction of the Mississippi River Com¬ 
mission wholly disproves the notion, which still prevails to a consid¬ 
erable extent, that the immediate effect of levee construction is to 

• * ••• : ; P*» ’> : r. : . 









2 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. . 

cause the bed of the Mississippi River to rise. If this were true, it 
would necessarily follow that the levees would need to be continuously 
strengthened and elevated, and thus all hope of protection would have 
to be abandoned. 

“In the years 1881, 1882, and 1888 an elaborate survey was made 
of the river bed from Cairo to the Passes, a distance of 1,063 miles. 
Four cross sections to the mile were made and 75 soundings were made 
to each line. The result of this survey was carefully plotted, recorded, 
and preserved. 

“In the years 1894, 1895, and 1896, after the lapse of a period of 
thirteen years, a still more elaborate survey was made of that part of 
the river bed between the Arkansas River and Donaldsonville, La., a 
distance of 472 miles. 

“While local changes in the river bed are necessarily constantly 
happening by reason of the gradual movement downsteam of the bends 
and accompanying bars and pools, the} T of themselves signify nothing. 
Yet a comparison such as that which has been drawn from the result 
of the two extensive surveys mentioned would necessarily furnish 
proof that the bed of the river was rising if such were the truth. So 
far from the comparison indicating such result from levee construc¬ 
tion, it was discovered that there is a general tendency to the estab¬ 
lishment of a more uniform channel in depth and width and with 
greater capacity. 

“The comparison also brought to light the fact that the crests of the 
low-water bars, as well as those of the high-water bars, have been 
lowered. 

“ If we turn to the evidence afforded b}’ the records of the numerous 
gauges established along the river, which have also been carefully 
recorded and preserved, we ffnd that the low waters now are several 
feet lower than they were in the years preceding active levee con¬ 
struction, accompanied by an equal volume of water and an equal 
depth of channel. This unquestionably shows that the effect of levee 
construction has been to bring about a gradual depression of the river 
bed. This effect has been produced within the past few years, for 
prior to that time there was no such restraint of the flood waters as 
could leave an} T impress whatever, one way or the other, upon the 
river bed. 

“The notion that the bed of the river is rising has been somewhat 
revived since the flood of 1903, because of the fact that at certain points 
the gauge reading showed not only unusually great elevation of the 
flood height, but irregular elevation. From this it has been deduced 
by some that at those places where the gauge readings were the highest 
there had been, as the result of levee construction, an unusal deposit 
of silt, thus raising the bed of the river. A simple explanation will 
destroy this theory: 

“In 1880, when the levees were by no means continuous and were 
altogether insufficient to affect the flood plane in any degree, the first 
thoughtful and scientific observation of the river began. This was 
because of the fact that the Mississippi River Commission then entered 
upon the discharge of .its duties. It was noted that the rise and fall of 
the river was very different at different points. It was observed that 
the greater annual oscillations, which were of about 45 feet, were 
to be found at or near the mouths of the tributaries, such as the 
Ohio, the St. Francis, the Arkansas, and the Red rivers. It was also 


u/ i 6 3a 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


3 




observed that the lesser annual oscillations, which were of about 35 
feet, were to be found at intermediate points along the fronts of the 
great basins drained by these tributaries, as, for example, at Fulton, 
Memphis, Greenville, Lake Providence, and St. Joseph. 

“A careful plotting of the gauge readings at that time exhibited a 
smooth and regular high-water slope, but an exceedingly irregular low- 
water slope. This was caused by considerable depression of the river 
bed at*or near the junction with the tributaries of the river and a con- 
sideiable elevation of the bed along the fronts of the great basins 
between them. For this reason it was noted that the rise in high water 
was much greater where the bed of the river was depressed at or near 
the points of junction with its tributaries. 

“It was observed that the discharge at high water at these points, 
because of these depressions, was something like 1,500,000 cubic feet 
per second, while along the intervening basin fronts the discharge was 
several hundred thousand feet less. This difference in discharge, 
ranging from a quarter to a half million feet, was because of the 
escape of water over the river banks along these basin fronts. This 
escape of water undoubtedly caused the elevation of the bed along 
these fronts which was noted, and we feel justified in affirming that 
when this escape shall have been permanently prevented by the con¬ 
struction of suitable levees, these elevated portions of the river bed 
will be gradually lowered to conform to the bed at the points of junc¬ 
tion with tributaries, thus making a regular low-water slope. When 
this shall have been accomplished, undoubtedly the lowering of the 
river bed will steadily go on. 

44 It has also been noted that during the flood of 1903 the heights 
attained by the flood in excess of those hitherto recorded w^ere greatest 
at the points along these basin fronts, as, for instance, at Memphis, 
where the rise was 3 feet greater than any ever known. 

4 4 The excess of flood height at the points of depression referred to 
was nothing like so extreme. 

44 We therefore declare that, in our judgment, there is no warrant 
whatever for the assertion that the effect of levee construction has 
been or will be to raise the bed of the river, but, on the contrary, it 
is our definite conviction that the effect will be to cause a general and 
considerable lowering of the bed. 

“efficiency of levees. 

44 Second. We also desire to express our firm opposition to all schemes 
for reducing flood heights of the lower river by the construction of 
reservoirs or so-called outlets. We refer to and indorse fully all that 
is said upon this subject by the very careful and able report submitted 
in 1898 b} T the Commerce Committee of the United States Senate, 
which is so complete and elaborate as to exhaust the consideration of 
the question. We will add that all schemes which have ever been pro¬ 
posed for the relief of the river in times of flood b}^ outlets or reser¬ 
voirs would either prove wholly inefficient or would cost such vast 
sums and require such constant care and expenditures as to entitle them 
to no consideration. 

4 4 Third. While the flood of 1903 was very nearly as great as that of 
1897, and while the flood plane was greatly in excess of that of 1897, 
the protection afforded in 1903 over that of 1897 is so great as to 


4 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


satisfy the minds of all impartial investigators that so far as the test 
has gone the principle of protection by levee construction has been 
amply vindicated. In 1903 there were but 6 crevasses, as against 
43 in 1897. With each recurring flood since levee construction began 
in earnest the number of crevasses has grown smaller and smaller and 
the protection afforded has grown greater and greater. As a result, 
investments of capital in the Mississippi Valley have increased until 
they are almost fabulous. The low-lying back lands which prior to 
that date were regarded as valueless are fast being occupied and con¬ 
verted into homes for the benefit of our people. Towns and cities have 
sprung up in every direction. Railroads now traverse the valley, so 
that nearly every part of it is now reached by them. All of this affords 
evidence of the strongest possible conviction on the part of the people 
that the time is sure to come when they will have absolute protection 
from the floods of the river. 

66 Theorists ma}^ argue against the efficiency of levees, but they do 
so in vain. The strong common sense of the people responds by 
rejecting their theories. The work must go on. It can not now stop. 
Too much money has been invested in levees to suffer them to be 
destroyed, and unless they are prosecuted to completion they will be 
destroyed. The enormous investments made because of them and in 
reliance upon their completion can notin good faith be abandoned now 
to the devastation of the Hoods. We presume that no man can be found 
at this stage of the work to suggest that the plan of protection by 
levees should be abandoned, at least until a full and complete test has 
shown them to be impracticable. 

‘ 4 MISSISSIPPI RIVER COMMISSION. 

u Fourth. The following abstract of the report of the Mississippi 
River Commission, just made, and hardly yet published, gives the very 
latest opinion of the Commission upon the levee question, and is so 
comprehensive and pertinent that we give it at length, to wit: . 

“ 4 The past Hood established, more clearly than has any previous 
one, both the importance and the practicability of a complete and suf¬ 
ficient levee system. In its present condition, incomplete both as 
regards extension and dimensions, it gave substantial protection to 
three-fourths of the alluvial valley and its interests, which under equal 
flood conditions without levees would have been a lake from 20 to 80 
miles wide from Cairo to the Gulf. The improvement made during 
the past six years has reduced the number of crevasses between Cairo 
and New Orleans from 38 to 6. Of the area overflowed this year, five- 
eighths w T as the direct result of backwater from the lower ends of the 
basins and overflow through unbuilt parts of projected lines, and only 
three-eighths from breaks in the levees, notwithstanding their unfin¬ 
ished condition as regards both grade and section. 

u 4 Under these circumstances the importance of the earliest practica¬ 
ble completion of the work is apparent. If the flood damages of 1903 
may be approximately estimated at $5,000,000, the previous expendi¬ 
ture of that sum in permanent work would have largely if not entirely 
prevented them. Every year’s delay in completion incurs the risk of 
similar loss. When the system shall have been completed the cost 
will have been increased by many millions of dollars, and the develop¬ 
ment of the valley delayed by many years of anxiety and disaster, 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


5 


which could have been saved by continuous work on a scale commen¬ 
surate with the importance and magnitude of the improvement. The 
State levee districts realize this. Most of them have anticipated their 
revenues as far as practicable, and several have now under considera¬ 
tion plans for such increase of resources applicable to the work as will 
shorten the time of completion. The Commission is so impressed with 
this view of the subject that it considers it for the best interest of the 
work to now make contracts for levee construction to the extent of 
$2,000,000, as provided for in the river and harbor act of June 13, 
1902, from the amounts to be appropriated for the fiscal years ending 
June 30. 1905, and June 30, 1906. Furthermore, it suggests that if 
Congress should think proper to make additional provisions for levee 
construction during the fiscal years ending June 30,1905, and June 30, 
1906, the sum of $2,000,000 in addition to the amounts already pro¬ 
vided can be judiciously and advantageous^ expended during each 
year.’ 

• “conservation of commerce. 

“Fifth. In addition to the protection of the lands of the Mississippi 
Valley from the floods, it is a matter of supreme importance that the 
mind of the nation should be kept constantly advised of the commercial 
importance of the Mississippi River as a highway of commerce. The 
marvelous growth of railroad building within the last quarter of a cen¬ 
tury has so diverted the attention of the public from the Mississippi 
River as a means of transportation that it has been to some extent lost 
sight of. It has remained, however, a constant safeguard against undue 
rates of transportation, and promises in the near future to become once 
more’as active a factor in interstate commerce as it ever has been in the 
past. This is owing, first, to the almost unparalleled increase in indus¬ 
trial activity throughout the valley, and, second, to the demonstration 
which has been made in recent years that tty means of hydraulic dredges 
a sufficient channel for low-water navigation can be secured and main¬ 
tained. We earnestly express the hope that the work of the Missis¬ 
sippi River Commission in this direction be pressed as rapidly as can be 
properly done with a view to opening up the great river once more, 
so that the people may fully enjoy the extraordinar}^ facilities which 
it is capable of supplying for the cheap and steady exchange of their 
commodities. Levee construction is undoubtedly essential, even if all 
thought of reclaiming the fertile lands of the valley should be aban¬ 
doned, for without levees all river commerce during periods of over¬ 
flow would necessarily cease. 

“a GRIEVOUS BURDEN. 

“Sixth. The work of levee construction has been carried on by the 
cooperation of the United States Gover ment through the agency of 
the Mississippi River Commission with the levee organizations of the 
several riparian States. Of the amount expended in this work the 
Government has contributed, in round figures, about one-third. ' The 
people have subjected themselves to such heavy taxation in furnishing 
their contributions until they have already overburdened their re¬ 
sources in this regard. It is the opinion of the residents of the great 
valley that the difficulties and magnitude of the work and the vast 
benefits to result from it are such that in common justice the burden 


6 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


should be placed upon the strong shoulders of the Federal Govern¬ 
ment, and that the work should be urged to speedy completion. By 
suitable annual appropriations this can soon be accomplished, thus se¬ 
curing not only safet} r , but great economy: Therefore, 

44 DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

44 Resolved, That, in the judgment of this convention, the protection 
of the Mississippi Valley from floods is of such national importance 
as not only to justify, but to make it the duty of the General Govern¬ 
ment to undertake it and press it to the speediest possible completion. 
If, for any reason, the exercise of sole jurisdiction at this time by the 
General Government should not be deemed advisable, then this con¬ 
vention urges most earnestly that Congress make at its approaching 
session such appropriations as are recommended by the Mississippi 
River Commission in its recent report. 

44 THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. 

“Resolved further, That the system of river improvements in the 
valley of the Mississippi from its headwaters to the Gulf, and in the 
valley of the Ohio and other tributaries, now provided for, and those 
which may hereafter be provided for b}^ Congress under the supervi¬ 
sion of the United States engineers, meets our hearty' commendation, 
and should be prosecuted to completion without unnecessary delay. 

44 Resolved , That the attention of Congress is invited to the serious 
disasters which have befallen those residing at or near St. Louis, Kan¬ 
sas City, and other localities by reason of the recent great floods, and 
the Secretary of War is respectfully requested to cause an inquiry to be 
made with a view to the preparation of suitable plans for the preven¬ 
tion of a recurrence of such injuries. 

44 Be it resolved, That the convention of delegates representing the 
States of the great Mississippi Valley from Duluth to the Gulf of 
Mexico gives its unqualified approval to the movement for the con¬ 
struction of a waterway connecting the Great Lakes at the north 
with the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico at the south. 

44 We recognize the expenditure of $35,000,000 by the sanitary dis¬ 
trict of Chicago as a practical demonstration in the furtherance of this 
project. We express the hope that the Senators and Representatives 
in Congress from the various States represented in this convention 
will give their encouragement and assistance to Congressional legis¬ 
lation in favor of the completion of the deep waterway, to which "the 
Mississippi Valley States have already given their approval, and to 
which the State of Illinois and the sanitary district of Chicago are 
committed as a matter of policy and by great financial expenditures 
already made.” 

STATEMENT OF HON. W. W. HEARD, GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA. 

Governor Heard. Gentlemen of the committee, it is pardonable 
that I should express the great honor I feel in having been selected to 
appear before you as chairman of this splendid delegation of citizens 
who have come here with me to represent the interests of 35,000,000 of 
their fellow-citizens, and 1,240,000 square miles of territory, or 41 per 
cent of the total area of these United States. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


7 


It is our purpose in coming before you to-day to present to you as 
briefly and concisely as may be an array of facts and figures as will 
show the vast extent of territory, and the magnitude of the agricul¬ 
tural, commercial, financial, and other interests dependent for present 
prosperity and for future development upon immunity from floods 
and upon the improvement of navigation of the Mississippi River. We 
feel confident that if these facts and conditions can be presented as 
they actually exist, the national importance of the subject, and of our 
mission and the responsibility, yea, the duty, of the General Govern¬ 
ment to more generously aid in the great work to be done will seem 
so obvious as to need hardly more than passing reference. 

Almost fifty years ago the improvement of the Mississippi River 
on the score of benefiting navigation and reclaiming land was recog¬ 
nized. In 1845 there was a levee convention—or river convention, 
perhaps, would be the better term—held in the city of Vicksburg, 
and the resolutions there adopted would seem to apply with more 
force now than then. I shall read them, Mr. Chairman: 

44 NATIONAL IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 


“ Resolved, That safe communication between the Gulf of Mexico 
and the interior, afforded by the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio 
rivers and their principal tributaries, is indispensable to the defense 
of the country in time of war, and essential also to its commerce. 

u Resolved , That the improvement and preservation of the naviga¬ 
tion of those great rivers are objects as strictly national as any other 
preparation for the defense of the country, and that such improve¬ 
ments are deemed by this convention impracticable by the States or 
individual enterprise, and call for the appropriation of money for the 
same by the General Government. 

'‘Resolved, That the deepening of the mouth of the Mississippi so 
as to pass ships of the largest class, cost what it may, is a work worthy 
of the nation and would greatty promote the general prosperity. 

44 Resolved , That the project "of connecting the Mississippi River with 
the Lakes of the North by a ship canal, and thus with the Atlantic 
Ocean, is a measure worthy of the enlightened consideration of 
Congress. 

44 Resolved , That millions of acres of the public domain lying on the 
Mississippi River and its tributaries, now worthless for purposes of 
cultivation, might be reclaimed by throwing up embankments, so as 
to prevent overflow, and at this convention recommend such measures 
as may be deemed expedient to accomplish that object by a grant of said 
lands "or an appropriation of money.” 

Senator Alger. What is the date of that, Governor ? 

Governor Heard. 1845. At that convention Mr. J. C. Calhoun 
was the presiding officer, and, among other things, he said: 

44 In relation to the great highway of western commerce—at least the 
great inland sea of the country,"the Mississippi—he did not for a 
moment question that the Government was as much obligated to protect, 
defend, and improve it in every particular as it was to conduct these 
operations on the Atlantic seaboard. It was the genius of our Govern¬ 
ment, and, what was to him its beautiful feature, that what individual 
enterprise could effect alone was to be left to individual enterprise; 
what a State and individuals could achieve together was left to the joint 


8 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


action of States and individuals; but what neither of these separately 
or conjointly were able to accomplish, that, and that only, was the 
province of the Federal Government. He thought this was the case 
in reference to the Mississippi River.” 

The Chairman. Will it disturb you, Governor, if I ask you one or 
two questions? 

Governor Heard. No, sir. 

The Chairman. In the resolutions of the convention the statement 
was made that the United States, up to the present time, had paid one- 
third of the cost of the levees. Is that correct? 

Governor Heard. I shall come to that at once. I have some data 
here, Mr. Chairman, prepared by our State board of engineers, and I 
think probably that will answer your question. If not, I will be 
pleased to answer it as far as I can. The items that I shall refer to 
are elaborated in detail by Colonel Perrilliat. 


Data regarding the levee districts of the Mississippi Diver. 

Total alluvial area subject to overflow.{acres 6 " 19, 055’ 600 

Total area incorporated in levee districts under various (square miles.. 26, 952 

State laws.(acres. 17, 249, 642 

Percentage of area in cultivation to total. 19. 7 

Total number of levee districts in Mississippi Valley. 25 

Total number of commissioners governing same. 155 

Total length of levee line in Mississippi Valley on Mississsippi River 

and its tributaries..miles.. 1, 956 

Extension of levee line required.do. 191 

Total assessed valuation of levee district, exclusive of Orleans.$112, 887, 591 

Assessment of Orleans. . $150, 055, 240 

Total revenue for levee building contributed in 1902, by States and levee 

districts. $2, 239, 754 

Total contributed by United States Mississippi River Commission for 

levee purposes for 1902.. $1,000,000 


I believe that answers your question. 

Senator Berry. That is for the i^ear 1902 only ? 

Governor Heard. Yes, sir. 

Senator Berry. If you will permit me, Mr. Burton, the chairman 
of the committee of the House, stated in his last speech on the river 
and harbor bill that the Government had paid 38 per cent and the 
local authorities 62 per cent. 

Governor Heard. I think the Government has spent about 
$17,000,000 in all, and the States about $28,000,000, since 1882. 

The Chairman. Is that done by State law, a regular assessment of 
taxes, and all that sort of thing? 

Governor Heard. Yes, sir; I shall try to -cover that, Senator. 

Total amount of bonds authorized to be issued by levee districts for 

levee building on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. $8, 788, 000 

Total amount of these bonds already issued. $7, 337, 700 

Total amount of earthwork estimated necessary to complete levee line 

to Mississippi River Commission grade.cubic yards.. 89, 086, 047 

Estimated cost of above earthwork.$17,817,198 

Percentage of present condition of levee line to estimated completion .. 65.9 

February 1, 1904. 


(Compiled by Arsene Perrilliat, member board of State engineers of 
Louisiana.) 

The Interstate Mississippi River Improvement and Levee Associa¬ 
tion, which met recently in convention at the city of New Orleans, and 




















IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


9 


which we have the honor to represent here to-day, was the largest and 
most imposing gathering of the kind that it has ever been my pleasure 
to attend. The proceedings show that 2,800 delegates were appointed 
to that convention. One. hundred and sixty-six cities and 24 States 
were represented, and besides Senators, Congressmen, and governors 
there .were delegates from commercial bodies, organizations, and 
municipalities covering the great Mississippi Valley Basin from its 
eastern confines to its western borders. 

Twenty governors, 22 United States Senators, and about 100 Con¬ 
gressmen expressed their cooperation and sympathy in the movement 
or in the purposes of the convention. One of the distinguished mem¬ 
bers of this committee was there and addressed the convention, telling 
us what had been done by the National Government; and I may sa}^ in 
this connection that his reference to the honorable chairman of this 
committee and his efforts was received with great applause and 
enthusiasm. 

The Chairman. You are trying to corrupt the chairman, now, 
Governor. [Laughter.] 

Governor Heard. The Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Berry, can bear 
me witness as to the truthfulness of that statement. 

Senator Berry. It was the onl} T enthusiastic applause I got. 

Governor Heard. A personal letter from the President of the United 
States was read before the convention, in which he said: 

u Exactly as I have taken a keen interest in irrigation in the arid 
regions., so do I feel that the movement for thoroughly protecting the 
Mississippi lowlands by levees is one of importance to the whole 
country, no less than to the people immediately adjoining the great 
river. I wish all success to your convention.” 

The distinguished Secretary of Agriculture—Hon. James Wilson— 
in an address before the convention, expressed himself as being in 
entire sympathy with its objects. 

As I have shown in my remarks before that convention, the delta of 
the Mississippi River subject to overflow, extends from Cape Girar¬ 
deau, 45 miles above Cairo, to the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 600 miles in 
an air line, and varying in width from 20 to 30 miles. The Mississippi 
River, which flows through this delta, carries the drainage from 
1,240,050 square miles of land, or, as I have before stated, 41 per cent 
of the total area of the United States. The area drained extends from 
Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Rocky Mountains to the 
Alleghenies. It drains 10 entire States, parts of 22 other States and 
Territories, besides a part of 2 provinces in Canada, a country equal 
in area to that of Austria, Germany, France, Holland, Ital} T , Spain, 
Portugal, and Great Britain combined. 

Can this, then, be considered a matter of merely local importance? 

The national character of the work has no better illustration than 
the peculiar situation below the Arkansas River, where a large portion 
of the State of Louisiana is only protected by a line of levee in the 
State of Arkansas, which runs through local districts too poor to care 
for it, and which is only maintained by the joint efforts of the 
National Government and the State of Louisiana. 

The flood water of half this Republic rushes down upon us at regular 
seasons each year, and for the protection of lives and property, the 
energies and resources of individuals and of the States are taxed to 
the utmost. 


10 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


The question naturally arises, What have the people of these States 
done for themselves? What have they done for their own protection? 
Let us see, and 1 take for example my own State of Louisiana. There 
an ad valorem tax of 1 mill on the dollar of the total assessment of the 
State is levied and set apart for the construction of levees. 

The Chairman. Is that annualty? 

Governor Heard. Yes, sir; property of all kinds, real and personal. 

The Chairman. Over the whole State? 

Governor Heard. Yes, sir; even in the hill portion of the State, 
and that comprises about one-half, I may say, of the State, that lias no 
direct benefit from levees, and only an indirect benefit. One mill of 
our 6-mill State tax on all assessable property is set apart for levee 
construction. 

Senator Clay. Governor, do you not levy a special tax on the land 
involved? 

Governor Heard. I will answer you directly, Senator. In addition 
to this tax, which is paid by all citizens whether they receive benefits 
from the levee or not, a special levee tax of 10 mills is levied on all 
property subject to overflow which may be situated in the various levee 
districts of the State. 

Senator Depew. How much? 

Governor Heard. Ten mills. 

Senator Foster, of Washington. Is that based on a low valuation? 

Governor Heard. No, sir. Well, the valuation is not the actual 
value of the property, but it is the same in proportion to the other 
property. 

Senator Mallory. It is the same basis as other properties levied on ? 

Governor Heard. Yes, sir. 

The alluvial portions of the State are subdivided into levee districts, 
of which there are some fourteen in Louisiana, presided over by as 
many boards of commissioners. IW reason of the protection afforded 
by the building of levees, these districts are thickly populated and in 
the highest state of cultivation. But the people thereof are compelled 
to pay dearly for this protection from floods. Besides the 10-mill 
levee tax they pay a forced contribution of $1 on even^ bale of cotton 
produced and a proportionate amount on every hogshead of sugar, 
barrel of sugar, sack of rice, bushel of potatoes, etc., and even the 
oysters, which live and have their being in the waters of the Gulf of 
Mexico, on the shores of Louisiana, strange as it may seem to you, 
are taxed for protection against the floods of the Mississippi River. 

In addition to this, these levee boards have issued large amounts of 
bonds, predicated on their revenues. The tax on the people living in 
these alluvial districts is very heavy, amounting in most cases to 1£ 
per cent and in some isolated cases, in Louisiana, the special tax 
amounts to as much as 3i per cent. Six million six hundred and fifty- 
five thousand two hundred dollars of bonds have been issued and the 
proceeds applied to levee work in the Mississippi Valle}^, and $1,960,000 
is derived from taxation annually. 

Senator Alger. This is for Louisiana? 

Governor Heard. This is for Louisiana. The other statement was 
for the Mississippi Valley. Of this, it is safe to say that $1,500,000 is 
actually expended in earthwork, the balance being devoted to the 
payment of interest on bonds issued and the cost of administration 
and operation. For every dollar expended by the Government the 
districts and State expend or contribute $2.25. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


11 


To be accurate, it is $2.24, I believe. For every dollar contributed 
by the Government of the United States, Louisiana as a State, with 
her board, contributes $2.25. 

Where or how these annual Hoods occur and why and how they 
occur are matters in which there is a diversity of opinion among- the 
scientists and experts. That they do occur with marvelous regularity 
is sufficient for us to know. Then follows naturally the question of 
the best method or means of protection. In this connection permit 
me to quote the admirable report of the Committee on Commerce to 
the Fifty-fifth Congress. 44 The scheme (of reservoirs) is regarded by 
nearly all engineers as wholly impractical,” and 44 your committee can 
discover no just or adequate relief in reservoirs.” 44 Neither can your 
committee discover any material relief in the outlet system.” 

Commenting on the reports of Captain Humphrey and Lieutenant 
Abbott, made to the Government as far back as the year 1861, it says: 

44 It is made clear that no substantial relief from the floods could be 
obtained from reservoirs or outlets, and that levees properly con¬ 
structed would afford the necessary relief.” 

The report of this committee goes on to say further: 

‘‘From all the evidence taken and considered by your committee it 
is evident that the basins and bottoms along the Mississippi River 
exposed to the floods of the river can only be protected and preserved 
from such floods by an ample and complete system of levees from 
Cairo to the Head of the Passes. Crevasses and inundations, result¬ 
ing in extensive loss of life and property, are liable to occur during* 
all Hoods so long as the system is incomplete. The burden of com¬ 
pleting the levee system is too great for local and State authority.” 

Just as was recited in the resolutions adopted in 1845. 

44 Your committee are of the opinion that the Federal Government 
should continue as it has since 1882 to aid in the great task of control¬ 
ling and repressing the Hoods in the river.” This opinion is supported 
by all the highest authorities—men who have made a lifetime study 
of the subject; but the best vindication of the levee system is the rec¬ 
ord of what has been accomplished by the levees themselves, imperfect 
and inadequate as they may be. In the year 1882, when the levees 
were scarcely more than furrows along the banks of the river and were 
built by private persons for the protection of their own individual 
property, no safety was afforded worth mentioning. In the year 1897, 
when the necessity for State control was imperative, the system was 
improved and levees were built for the protection of entire districts 
the benefits grew in proportion to the work accomplished. In the 
year 1908, when more and higher levees were constructed, the results 
were so apparent as to put at rest all doubts as to the merits of the 
system, as will be seen from the following tables: 

44 In 1882 there were 282 crevasses. 

4 4 In 1897 there were 88 crevasses. 

44 In 1903 there were 7 crevasses. 

44 In 1882 the floods swept away 54 miles of levees. 

44 In 1897 the floods swept away 8.7 miles of levees. 

44 In 1903 the floods swept away 2.5 miles of levees.” 

Could there be any greater vindication of the levee system than is 
shown lr^ these tables of what they have accomplished? 

Thus I have endeavored to show (1) the immense area and the diver¬ 
sity of interests involved in this subject of levee protection; (2) the 


12 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


importance to the Nation of securing these immense bodies of lands 
from annual inundation; (3) the efficacy of the levee system and the 
necessity for the perfection and completion of that system. 

And now we come to the point of asking the aid of your honorable 
committee- 

Senator Depew. Before entering upon that, what is your method 
of policing? 

Governor Heard. We have inspectors employed by the various 
levee boards during high water, and the whole levee’s line is policed. 
There are not so many of these employed during a low stage of the 
water, but it is policed from the Arkansas line as far as the levees go, 
each levee board looking after its particular line of levee. Of course 
that is true on both sides of the river. 

And now we come to the point of asking the aid of your honorable 
committee in placing our claims for assistance to the National Govern¬ 
ment before Congress in such a light that will assure us of favorable 
consideration. Give us liberal assistance in this great work and when 
it is completed, and the immense tracts of land are protected from the 
constant fear of devastation, they will in return furnish to this country 
all the cotton, sugar, corn, and other staples that she will ever need. 

I thank you for your patient hearing, gentlemen. 

Senator Alger. Before you sit down, Governor, can you tell us 
how many States are taxed for this purpose? 

Governor Heard. There are six, as I understand. 

Senator MaLlory. Did I understand you correctly to say that the 
State of Louisiana contributes to the leveeing of the river in Arkansas? 

Governor Heard. Ye s, sir; we spent in 1902 in Arkansas some 
$70,000. I do not remember the exact amount. 

Captain Henry. It was about that. It was about $68,000. 

Governor Heard. About $68,000 in the State of Arkansas in 1902. 

Senator Clarke. I think I should state the circumstance under which 
that was spent. There are not enough people in that territory to jus¬ 
tify the imposition of a tax sufficient to do the work. 

Governor Heard. 1 had stated that, Senator. 

Senator Clarke. It is not necessary for Louisiana to pa}" anything 
where Arkansas’s liability is clear. 

Governor Heard. I was stating, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, 
what was the fact, and I stated also it was because the people in that 
district were not able to raise a sufficient amount of money to do the 
work. 

Senator Clarke. Do not put it that way. The people of Arkansas 
are able to pay everything they should pay; but there the lines ran so 
near the line of the Mississippi River that the territory necessary did 
not have enough value in it to justify the imposition of a tax that 
would build the levee. 

Governor Heard. My only object in referring to the subject w r as to 
show that it is a national question. 

Senator Berry. 1 want to add, Governor, that the injuries from the 
breaks there in the levee resulted largely to Louisiana and very little 
to Arkansas. 

Governor Heard. Of course I wanted to show that we had to do 
that in order to protect ourselves. 

Captain Henry. Mr. Chairman, the next speaker is Judge Cochran, 
of St. Louis, the general counsel of the Gould system of railroads. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


13 


STATEMENT OF HON. ALEX. G. COCHRAN, OF ST. LOUIS, MO. 

Mr. Cochran. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I 
desire to express to you, as I did to the House committee yesterday, 
the regret which Mr. Gould, president of the Missouri Pacific system, 
feels in not being able to be personally present this morning to 
express his own views in regard to the important question which is 
under consideration before the committee. He had hoped to have 
been here, but engagements of a very imperative character prevented 
his coming, and so at the last moment he requested me to appear in his 
place. 

Mr. Gould was invited to attend the great levee convention which 
was held in New Orleans in October, and in his reply, regretting his 
inability to be there, he expressed in a very terse way the extent of 
the railroad construction contemplated through that country, so far 
as our system is concerned, and perhaps I can not do better than to 
read you the letter which Mr. Gould wrote on that occasion, which is 
as follows: 


195 Broadway, New York, 

October 23 , 1903. 

J. N. Luce, 

Chairman New Orleans Levee Executive Committee , 

New Orleans , La.: 

I regard your convention to be held in New Orleans on the 27th as a 
very important event for the entire Mississippi Valley and all the 
great and diversified interests therein, and 1 hope the views and plans 
for levee protection that will be formulated will be so desirable to all 
interests, including those of your great city, that they will commend 
themselves to the public at large and to the Congress of the United 
States, where it is hoped liberal appropriations will be provided. The 
railroad interests I am connected with have under way and partially 
completed a low-grade line of road from East St. Louis to New 
Orleans, crossing the Mississippi River on a great bridge at Thebes, 
Ill. When this line is completed it will be a water-grade line paral¬ 
leling the Mississippi and opening up virgin forests upon its west 
bank, and in addition it will make accessible great areas of farming 
lands susceptible of a high degree of cultivation if safe from inunda¬ 
tion. We are also, at great expense, rebuilding the railroad between 
Little Rock, Ark., and Coffeyville, Mo., and are constructing a new 
low-grade line of railroad in the White River Valley to connect our 
Kansas City lines with the main line of the Iron Mountain road. All 
of this, with necessary expenditures for equipment and other railroad 
appurtenances, will amount to from $40,000,000 to $50,000,000, and 
the work has been under way for two or three years, with the belief 
on our part that this great investment, the bulk of which will be in 
the Mississippi Valley, will be protected from damage by floods and 
inundation. The completion of our plans hereinabove outlined will 
inure greatly to the benefit of the city of New Orleans and largely 
add to her maritime trade. 

George J. Gould. 

Senator Nelson. Is this railroad on the west side of the river? 

Mr. Cochran. It extends from East St. Louis down on that side of 
the river to a point near Thebes. 


14 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


Senator Nelson. And then goes down on the other side? 

Mr. Cochran. And then goes down on the other side; yes, sir. It 
connects with the great bridge now in course of construction there ahd 
which will be used by live different systems of roads when completed. 

Of course it goes without saying that it is largely to the interest of 
the people of this great valley that the Mississippi Delta, subject to 
overflow, shall have the benefit of railroads. It also goes without 
saying that these great improvements, which cost so many millions of 
dollars, will not be constructed, unless the projectors of them have 
some reasonable guarantee that their property will, when constructed, 
not be swept away or seriousty impaired by floods or the operation of 
the property prevented. 

The condition of the country protected by levees is unquestionabty 
very much better to-da}^ than it has been in times past. I had the honor, 
as the chairman knows, for many years prior to his death to rep¬ 
resent as private counsel that distinguished engineer, James B. Eads, 
who constructed the jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi River, the 
bridge at St. Louis, and the light-draft gunboats that participated 
in the lower river battles during the war, and accomplished such 
important results. You will pardon me if 1 say in passing that I 
believe he would have been successful, if he had lived, in solving the 
isthmian problem by the construction of his great ship railway across 
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It has always been to me, as an 
American, a source of great regret that this peerless engineer, this 
splendid genius—one who never failed to accomplish any work he 
undertook—should have been called from earth so soon and before he 
had finished the grandest and last of his great works. 

Not long ago, when I was in Mexico, 1 had an opportunity for a brief 
conversation with the President of the Republic, General Diaz, and 
through the interpreter he expressed to me his regret that the great 
plans which they had all hoped to see accomplished there in the con¬ 
struction of this railroad, which was something above ground, that 
you could see and repair, and connected with which there were no 
serious problems to be solved, should have ended with the death of its 
great projector. 

The Chairman. You refer to the Tehuantepec ship railroad? 

Mr. Cochran. Yes, sir; which was to extend from the river on the 
Gulf side to the great lagoon on the Pacific side, only about 132 miles 
across, 1 think, in a comparatively straight line, with no gradients 
greater than 1 per cent, and under conditions and plans which had 
met with the approval of the greatest engineers of the world. 

The Chairman. Our Democratic friends have given us all the talk 
we want on that subject. [Laughter.] 

Mr. Cochran. Well, I am through. I digressed a little simply 
because 1 think these two great enterprises—the ship canal which is 
to be constructed now at Panama, which I cordially indorse, and the 
improvement of the Mississippi Valley b}^ the necessary protection and 
reclamation of its overflowed lands, thus changing a wilderness into a 
vast area of producing territory—are very closely connected and ma}^ 
well be considered together. 

I was very deeply interested yesterday in the House committee in 
listening to ex-Secretary Fairchild, who spoke of the great importance 
to this country of the reclamation of these lands for the purposes of 
cotton growing. I trust the gentlemen of the Senate committee may 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


15 


have an opportunity, when the proceedings before the Committee on 
Rivers and Harbors are published, of reading the remarks of Mr. Fair- 
child on that subject. The general line of his thought was that while 
other nations may produce wheat and other cereals, after all this coun¬ 
try is adapted to the raising of cotton; that the cotton crop is the great 
crop; that if the cotton crop of the country fails it affects the whole 
financial relations of the country and of the world to an extent requir¬ 
ing serious thought and substantial readjustment of the money situa¬ 
tion. Here in this Mississippi Delta is a vast acreage of the'richest 
cotton-growing land in the world, not more than a third—perhaps 
not so much as a third—of which is reclaimed and made capable of 
cultivation. 

In the speeches which were made before the levee convention, which 
assembled at New Orleans (and they were all very tine addresses, made 
\v gentlemen who had most carefully studied all the statistics bearing 
upon the subject), this matter is fully discussed, and it is shown how 
this vast acreage of about 30,000 square miles, included within the 
overflowed delta of the river in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisi¬ 
ana, can by levee protection be brought into cultivation, and can be 
made, so far as the raising of cotton is concerned, the garden spot of 
the world. This would give to the United States, as Mr. Fairchild 
said yesterday, an advantage in that respect which would not be 
enjoyed by any other nation on the earth. This would be a perma¬ 
nent advantange, the value of which would be incalculable. 

Gentlemen, there was a time when in the discussion of a question 
of this character it would have been necessary to have gone into a good 
deal of detail. A great many questions which may be regarded as now 
settled would then have had to be discussed. For example, there was 
a long period, as you know, when no appropriations were made for 
levee improvements except in connection with, and as necessary to, the 
improvement of the navigation of the river. In his remarks before 
the levee convention my friend, Judge Blanchard, calls attention to 
the years between 1882, when the river and harbor bill was passed 
making appropriations for the Mississippi River, and 1892, when the 
first bill was passed (reported by him as chairman of the committee 
of the House) carrying an appropriation authorizing an expenditure 
for levees as such, and without the previous onerous conditions. In 
1892 this departure was made with the understanding that such por¬ 
tion of the appropriation as the Mississippi River Commission saw fit 
to expend in the improvement of the levees should be thus expended, 
and from that time on until the present time these expenditures have 
been made under the supervision of the Board of Engineers of the 
Army and the Mississippi River Commission, and upon well-approved 
plans which have been carefully considered by these gentlemen. 

We have so far committed ourselves in favor of the expenditure of 
money for levee protection, especially by the act of two years ago 
appropriating $2,000,000 a year for four consecutive years for the 
general improvement of the Mississippi River and for levee protec¬ 
tion, that we may accept it as a settled conclusion of Congress that fur¬ 
ther money which may be needed will be appropriated for that 
purpose. 

In this connnection the fact may be noted that by the report of the 
Mississippi River Commission it is made manifest that all of this money 
which is expended in levees is in a sense an improvement of the Mis- 


16 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


sissippi River. There was a time when it might have been necessary 
to show how, by contracting the width of the channel on the principle 
of the jetties at the mouth of the river, you would be enabled to force 
the river to do its own scouring, thus lowering the flood line. That is 
not necessary now, however, in view of the reports of the Mississippi 
River Commission, made after careful investigation, in which it is 
declared that the construction of these levees and the consequent reten¬ 
tion of the river within its banks, results in some channel deepening, 
and, therefore, improvement of the river. This consideration affords 
an added reason why liberal appropriations should be made. 

But I must not take up too much time, as others are to follow me. 
Our system wants to build more railroads down there. It wants to 
develop that whole country. Of course, there is always involved in 
railroad construction the desire for reasonable returns on the invest¬ 
ment, and yet in the present case I may say that, so far as the interests 
I represent are concerned, they are not actuated solely by a desire to 
protit. There is a very earnest and sincere desire to benefit that sec¬ 
tion of the country. I think no one can visit our southern country,, 
including Arkansas, Louisiana, and all down through the delta of the 
Mississippi, coming in contact with the class of men }mu meet, with¬ 
out feeling a cordial sympathy with them and a desire to help them 
in their struggle with inrushing floods of water, which mean ruin and 
destruction to life and property. These, men are willing to help 
themselves by contributions of money and by hard work; they are 
willing to toil by lantern light in the nighttime, and at the risk of 
their lives go out upon the top of those levees to battle with the rising 
water. They can not spend all the money, can not do all the work. 
If they are to succeed they mustTiave liberal help from the Govern¬ 
ment. Of course, it can not be expected that railroads will furnish 
the vast sums of money which necessarily will be expended in the 
development of that country unless there is a reasonable guaranty 
that inundations will cease, and that there will, through the construc¬ 
tion of levees, be some sufficient protection to property. 

I realize the many demands made on Congress for money. From 
all over the country come clamorous voices demanding appropriations. 
The representatives from Arkansas, Louisiana, and from all these 
States are not here denying to anyone else an equal right with them¬ 
selves to get such help as Congress may see fit to give them. They 
are not here to-day and they never have been before Congress antago¬ 
nizing the scheme of any other State or any other people. They are 
willing to cooperate with others, but they do say this, and they say it 
truthfully, that this levee question is the great question, and there is 
no question affecting the Mississippi Valley as great as the protection 
of those alluvial lands from overflow and destruction. It must be 
remembered that the waters of 10 States drain wholly into the Mis¬ 
sissippi, and those of 22 other States and Territories partially drain 
into that river, and, as 1 said to the House committee yesterday, these 
people of the valley are not responsible for these floods of water that 
come rushing down upon them. The river is the nation’s sewer. It 
is the great drainer of that vast area of territory. Is it not fair that 
Congress should provide all needed money for protection against the 
floods? 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I must bring my remarks to a close. You 
will pardon me for having occupied so much time. My excuse for it 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 17 

is the deep interest which I and those with whom I am associated have 
in this great matter. 

Captain Henry. The next speaker, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, 
is General Vance, of Ohio. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN L. VANCE, OF OHIO. 

Mr. Vance. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I shall 
occupy your time not to exceed seven minutes. 

My home is on the banks of the Ohio River, 1,700 miles above the 
city of New Orleans, and my purpose here to-da} T is to say to the com¬ 
mittee that the people of the Ohio Valley want the Mississippi River 
improved more if possible than the Mississippi Valley people them¬ 
selves, and that we are interested possibly to as great, if not greater, 
an extent, in the improvement of the Mississippi River than the people 
who live on its banks. 

We have at the headwaters of the Ohio River the greatest manufac¬ 
turing center of the world. It is unequaled. We have the coal mines 
of the Monongahela, the Big Kanawha, the Big Sandy, the Green, and 
the other tributaries of that river. In a word, we have an inland water 
system embracing 4,400 miles that is the greatest freight producer in 
the world. There is nothing that equals it. The manufacturing 
industries of Pittsburg are but a part of that great valley’s manufac¬ 
turing force. You come on down the river to Evansville, to Anderson. 
I can not give you the exact distance above the mouth of the river, 
but more than half way between Louisville and Cairo every town upon 
either side of the great Ohio River is filled with manufacturing indus¬ 
tries and engaged in the manufacture of goods for transportation by 
water, as the cheapest mode of moving it to the markets of the world. 
We are absolutely dependent, therefore, upon the improvement of the 
Mississippi River, laying aside all questions of the alluvial soil that 
will be brought into use and become thickly populated, every word of 
which I indorse; but we of the Ohio Valley proper and of the great 
tributaries of the Ohio Valley must depend upon that river to reach, 
by means of transportation down the Mississippi River and reship¬ 
ment from New Orleans, the great markets of the entire world. 

Some two years ago one of the most distinguished men of this coun¬ 
try, in an address at Pittsburg, advised the people of western Penn¬ 
sylvania, for the time being, at least, to stop building railroads. He 
said to those people “Stop this railroad building so much. Put 
all your energies and all your power together in the improvement 
of your waterway. When that is done the great heavy freights of 
this entire valley will find their way down the Ohio River, down the 
Mississippi River to New Orleans, and then to the countries of the 
world by water, which is the cheapest mode of transportation known 
to man.” 

Now, gentlemen, but a step further. I think I have shown you 
why we are interested. I do not want my Mississippi River friends 
to take all the credit of being in favor of this great enterprise. We 
also of the Ohio, 2,000 miles from those at the lower end of the 
Mississippi, are anxious for it beyond all measure. 

Still further for a moment. I attended the Mississippi Levee Con¬ 
vention at New Orleans by invitation of Governor George K. Nash, 

S. Doc. 245, 58-2-2 


18 IMPROVEMENT OF . THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

of the State of Ohio, by appointment of the Cincinnati Chamber of 
Commerce, and as president af the Ohio Valley Improvement Associ¬ 
ation. The latter association, let me say to you here, to-day repre¬ 
sents a constituency of upward of 13,000,000 people directly interested 
in the improvement of the Mississippi River, the waters of their State 
emptying into it, and they being largely interested in it. Why, we 
reach away up into New York and draw some of her waters down our 
way; over into Maryland and North Carolina, and we even take a 
little part of Mississippi, Senator, and bring it down into the Ohio 
and reship it to you down below at New Orleans. 

That convention was a magnificent assemblage. The speeches were 
carefully prepared. Much thought was given to all of them. They 
are worthy of perusal, because each speaker sought to demonstrate the 
practicability of the improvement of the Mississippi River in such 
way as not alone to protect the lands behind the levees, but to afford a 
navigable stream of water during the entire year, and that is what must 
come to the great valley of the Ohio and Mississippi Valle} 7 from Cairo 
down to enable it to reach in some small degree the fruition of its 
great hopes. 

Gentlemen, I must trespass one moment. I have heard something 
said here, and more yesterday, in regard to the Panama Canal. I 
understand that the estimates of the engineers show that when the—we 
will call it the Isthmian Canal—that when the Isthmian Canal is com¬ 
pleted about 6,000,000 tons of freight per year will go through from one 
ocean to the other. You complete the improvements of the Ohio and 
the Mississippi rivers, and within two years from the completion of 
the Isthmian Canal, instead of 6,000,000, if that figure is correct, you 
will send 12,000,000 tons of freight from the Ohio and the Mississippi 
valleys to that region. We will send from away up on the Allegheny 
River, 2,000 miles down to Louisiana, the coal that will supply San 
Francisco, and stop that section of the country from getting its coal in 
large amounts, as 1 now understand it does* from Australia. 

Gentlemen, I thank you very much. It is too big a subject to look 
at in seven minutes. 

Senator Depew. Have the proceedings of that convention been 
printed so that they are available? 

Mr. Vance. They have, Senator. 

Captain Henry. I will have them distributed to the committee. 

Senator Nelson. Mr. Chairman, what I would like to know is this: 
Do you simply ask for additional appropriations, or do you advocate 
additional appropriations and a new scheme, a new method, of carry¬ 
ing on the improvements? 

Mr. Vance. Senator, I will answer your question, because I am 
familiar with the wishes of the gentlemen from the Mississippi Valley. 
I come from a little farther up, in God’s country, as I call it, you know, 
on the Ohio. They ask for additional appropriations down there—to 
be frank with you, Senator, I would rather let some of the Mississippi 
people talk to you. 

The Chairman. The resolutions which were sent here by that con¬ 
vention asked, if I understood them correctly, in the first place, that 
the Government of the United States should assume all of the erection 
of these levees, relieving the States and districts from the taxation 
which they have been suffering under heretofore; but if they could not 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 19 

get that, then they were willing to have an increased appropriation 
every year for the levees. 

Senator Berry. As requested by the Mississippi River Commission 
in its last report. 

Captain Henry. The next speaker, Mr. Chairman, is Mr. Leroy 
Percy, of Mississippi. 

STATEMENT OF MR. LEROY PERCY, OF MISSISSIPPI. 

Mr. Percy. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, we are 
sent here simply, as I understand it, to vouch in person for the char¬ 
acter of the convention that passed these resolutions, for the earnest¬ 
ness of purpose that actuated that convention, and for the dire need 
that prompted the people to meet in convention and make these 
requests at the hands of the Government. 

1 shall not detain this committee of experts on this subject with any 
discussion of outgrown heresies or exploded fallacies, but I shall sim¬ 
ply make, briefly and hurriedly, a few pertinent suggestions that 
occur to me. 

It seems to me that the whole question as to whether we are entitled 
or have a right to ask or to demand, put it as you will, at the hands 
of the National Government any assistance is soluble by the expres¬ 
sion of three questions: Is this work a work worth doing? Can this 
work be done? Is it a work that the National Government is called 
upon to do ? If those questions be answered in the affirmative, then I 
take it that the relief will be accorded. It will be simply a question 
of the time when and the manner how that relief will be extended. 

Is the work of reclaiming and protecting the Mississippi Valle} 7 one 
of sufficient importance to justify the doing of it? It means the pro¬ 
tection of 30,000 square miles—20,000,000 acres—of land. As has 
been stated, it means the protection of an area equal to the States of 
New T Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, of which 
20 per cent, or, to be accurate, 19. T per cent, according to the most 
accurate information we have, is now in cultivation, of which 80 per 
cent is unreclaimed and not in cultivation, the unreclaimed but reclaim- 
able portion being equal in area to the States of New Jersey, Dela¬ 
ware, and Maryland. Is the saving of such a territory to the Govern¬ 
ment a thing worth doing? If such a territory could be acquired at a 
cost of a million dollars, if the destruction of such a territory by the 
encroaching waters of the ocean could be averted at an expense of a 
million dollars, is there a member of Congress who would raise his 
voice against the expenditure? 

What character of land is it? It is the geological cream of the 
country. There are about 4,000,000 acres in cultivation, 4,000,000 
acres that probably can not be put in cultivation because subject to 
overflow from back water and other causes, no matter how you levee, 
and 12,000,000 acres of land that can be reclaimed, and will be reclaimed 
and rapidly put in cultivation if protection is guaranteed. 

On that 12,000,000 acres of land, considering the imperfect methods 
of cultivation which we now use, considering the character of labor 
which we now have, within a very few years would be guaranteed— 
not as a matter of conjecture, but as a mathematical certainty, on a 
most conservative estimate—in addition to all the other agricultural 


20 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


products that might be raised, the production of more than 2,000,000 
bales of cotton, worth to-day more than $15,000,000. 

Cotton, may it please you, Mr. Chairman, constitutes to-day, with 
what we raise under present conditions, 28 per cent of the total exports 
of the United States, 11 per cent of the total exports of agricultural 
products of the United States, an export, may it please y-ou, which has 
levied tribute upon all of the civilized nations of the world to put money 
into our exchequer, w T hich has depleted the treasuries and pried open the 
strong boxes of all the civilized nations of the world; an import trade 
resulting therefrom which in time of financial disaster proves the refuge 
and the safeguard of our financial institutions; but our greatest finan¬ 
cial institutions are no more interested in this import, are no more 
interested in the price of this cotton, than every citizen throughout 
the length and breadth of the land, because the price of cotton goods 
is a question which touches the poorest of them. It is a tribute which 
these nations are paying under protest. The five greatest purchasing 
nations on earth of this product, in the ordered named, England, Ger¬ 
many, France, Russia, and Belgium, are to-day making every effort to 
rid themselves of this tax. From my own country Germany and 
England have procured men to be sent as experts to attempt the raising 
of cotton in foreign lands. The output of the Tuskegee Institute of 
Booker Washington, it has been said, can not supply the demand from 
Belgium alone for these experts, for whom high prices are offered. 

In other words, Mr. Chairman, there is not to-day, among the civ¬ 
ilized nations of the globe, a single nation so lacking in progress, a 
single nation with so depleted a treasury, that it would not eagerly 
grasp at the opportunity of making such an expenditure for such a 
return indefinitely more improbable than this. Will the United States, 
the most progressive and the richest nation on earth, flinch from the 
investment when the return is no venture but a fixed certainty ? The 
United States, so rich in blood and treasure, that she expended 
$300,000,000 and 3,000 men in the purchase of the gem of the 
Antilles to give that largely into alien hands when so acquired? The 
United States, so alive to the commercial interests of its citizens, that 
it bought the Philippines at a cost of $20,000,000 and saddled itself 
with the responsibility, through the ages, of governing an alien people 
in a distant land for commercial reasons alone? 

The United States, who is now, by methods that some people of our 
country claim to be questionable and tainted with bad faith to a sister 
Republic—in which complaint I have no sympathy—is endeavoring to 
acquire the right to pay $10,000,000 to be allowed the privilege of pay¬ 
ing $200,000,000 to forward the commercial interests of her people? 
The United States, who is so jealous in guarding the commercial rights 
of her people, who is so keenly alive to the great economic truth that 
the commercial prosperity is. dependent upon reaching the markets of 
the world that she would to-day issue a call to arms of every citizen of 
this vast Republic if need be to obtain the open door in Manchuria and 
China, simply to retain the right to sell to the }^ellow nations of the 
earth, to-day among our smallest purchasers of cotton products? 

1 say, sir, the efforts made by these nations and the work done by 
this Government answers in plain terms and answers in divers 
tongues, the commerce of the age answers, that the work is worth 
doing. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


21 


Can it be done ? Fortunately it is not a question longer to be debated, 
not one for academic dispute or discussion. With the $5,000,000 of deso¬ 
lation and ruin that the flood of 1903 brought to the inhabitants of the 
valley, it brought the glad assurance that the levee question was one 
no longer to be debated, but the success of which had passed into his¬ 
tory; for the reason, gentlemen, that the breaks did occur, six breaks 
practically in 1,140 miles of levee, 2:4 miles of levee swept away; that 
these breaks, fortunately for us, came after the crest of the wave had 
been reached, so that no longer could the old argument be made that 
if the breaks had not come the water would have gone indefinitely 
higher. The greatest flood we have ever seen had been chambered; 
the crest had come. The breaks gave no relief in that particular. We 
had stood the worst. So the Mississippi River Commission, the tri¬ 
bunal organized and created b} r Congress, announces among the 
results of the water of 1903 that it proves that the levees can hold the 
river, and not only that, but it proves exactly the amount of additional 
expenditure, of additional dirt, that is needed to complete the work and 
put it in a safe condition. 

So I say, gentlemen, the work can be done. Is it a work that the 
National Government should do? 

It is a work that the National Government should do. It is a work 
that the National Government will do, and for three reasons: One is, 
as has been said about the Mississippi River, it is the nation’s great 
sewer. From 41 States and parts of States this water is hurled down 
upon the people of the lower valley—a simple, struggling fringe of 
agricultural humanity between the banks of the river and the hills, try¬ 
ing to restrain the water of the nation. In common law and in equity 
man can not do that with his own which will hurt another. This is 
the nation’s own. Over it she has assumed jurisdiction. Control she 
exercises over it. She can not escape the responsibility. The maxim 
which is good between man and man will not be disregarded by a 
great nation in dealing with its own citizens. 

In the second place, may it please you, Mr. Chairman, the nation 
will do it because the needs of commerce demand it, because the tri¬ 
bunal into whose care you have intrusted this question have said that 
the leveeing of the Mississippi River is essential and necessary to the 
commerce of the river; that the breaking of these levees and crevasses 
and the shouldering into the bed of the river therefrom make it impos¬ 
sible for the river to do its greatest carrying of the commerce of the 
nation. 

Again, on the question of interstate commerce, there are to-da}^ two 
lines of railway stretching through that entire valley dependent for 
their very existence upon the maintenance of these levees. The United 
States, in her wdsdom, gave to the railroads of the West, to connect 
the East and West, an imperial domain for their creation. Will she 
withhold, now, this pitiful sum needed not for the creation but for the 
preservation of these trunk lines between the North and the South? 
Is there any ground upon which the two cases can be differentiated? 

Again, Mr. Chairman, the United States will do this work, because 
she does not put her hand to the plow and turn back with the work 
unfinished. She has been spending $1,000,000 a year on this work. 

Senator Clay. How much has she spent altogether? 

Mr. Percy. $17,500,000. 


22 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


Senator Clay. How much more do you want to complete it? How 
much will it take? 

Mr. Percy. It will take about $18,000,000. 

Senator Clay. More? 

Mr. Percy. More. She has spent that. This work has to be done. 
It can not be done except by the Government. It is one of magnitude 
beyond that of local boards hampered by State constitutions and State 
lines, and, Mr. Chairman, doling out what it has contributed sufficient 
to erect a perfect system of levees along both sides of the river, if 
expended as it should have been expended, but doled out and collected 
by the harsh hand of the tax collector in driblets from year to year—-— 

Senator Gallinger. Did I understand you to say it will require 
$18,000,000 to complete it? 

Mr. Percy. To reach protection, yes, sir; to reach safety. 

Senator Gallinger. That is, $18,000,000 will accomplish the result ? 

Mr. Percy. Yes, sir; will give us a perfected system of levees. 

Senator Gallinger. The National Government has contributed 
$17,000,000 and the States and municipalities about $30,000,000 more. 
Why will it not be completed in the near future if we proceed upon 
the basis upon which we have been acting in the past? 

Mr. Percy. The question is a pertinent one. The Government will 
do it. When will it do it? If governed by any rule known to busi¬ 
ness transactions, if actuated by any of the wisdom that prompts men 
in their individual investments, it will do it now; and, Mr. Senator, 
it will do it now for this reason- 

Senator Clay. How much does the last river and harbor bill cany? 
I have forgetten. 

Mr. Percy. About $25,000,000. 

Senator Clay. I mean for the Mississippi River. It is not that 
much? 

Mr. Percy. Two million dollars a year for four years. 

Senator Berry. If you will permit me, that is not for levee work 
only. A portion of it, the greater part of it, goes to the improvement 
of the channel. 

Senator Gallinger. About $1,000,000 is for levee work, and if 
the States and municipalities continue to pay $2,000,000, that will be 
$3,000,000. In six years we will have it completed on that basis. 

Mr. Percy. Let me say this: Of the money raised by the levee 
organizations a great deal of it goes for repairs, a great deal of it for 
guarding arid maintaining the inside line of levees, a great deal of it to 
pay interest on the outstanding indebtedness contracted for levee pur¬ 
poses. Four million dollars a year for four years may complete this 
work. When will $1,000,000 a year do it? Will it do it in sixteen 
years or eight years? Gentlemen, it may not be in twenty y ears or 
twenty-five years. How man}^ times that million dollars will have to 
be expended in replacing work washed awa}^ while these appropria¬ 
tions are being doled out in this way only the wisdom of infinite Provi¬ 
dence can tell. 

Senator Clay. How much money would be spent annually in com¬ 
pleting the work? How much should be used? 

Mr. Percy. Four million dollars a year is what the Commission 
says should be used. 

(At this point Senator Nelson took the chair.) 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


23 


The Acting Chairman. The trouble, if you will allow me to sug¬ 
gest, with the present system is this: It is a sort of checker work. 
The local boards work certain reaches of the river, and the Federal 
Government works certain other reaches of the river, and they are 
not always in harmony—that is, one reach of the river will be handled 
and worked by a local board under local supervision and another reach 
of the river by the Federal Government, as I understand it. Am I 
correct? 

Mr. Percy. In a measure, yes; not altogether. There is absolutely 
the .most remarkable harmony that ever existed in the expenditure of 
such a sum of money through such diverse agents and through so 
many years. It is not a question of lack of harmony. They spend 
the money where they think it is needed worst, knowing that it is 
needed along the entire 1,140 miles of levee, and their expenditure is 
limited, not by the necessities, but the amount of money they have on 
hand. 

It is not like a railroad or a house upon which you can expend 
to-day $100,000 and come back six months later and expend $100,000 
more and complete it, because you find what you have already done 
remaining intact. The high water of 1903 wrought a destruction of 
$5,000,000 on levee property and the property behind the levees. The 
next flood that comes along, while you are giving us a million dollars 
a year, and we are, by the most burdensome taxation, raising a million 
or two million more may inflict on the work }^ou have already done 
$20,000,000 damage, and when .we come for the appropriation year 
after next and you tell us you can give us a million, and you suppose 
in eight years we can finish, we are in infinitely worse plight than we 
are to-day. 

Senator Gallinger. If the Government gets back of this, the Gov¬ 
ernment will then have to keep the levees in repair. You are going 
to have your damage just the same eveiy year. 

Mr. Percy. No, sir. The damage has come from the levees not 
being high enough to hold the water. I want to say this to you: 
There never has yet been an hour in the levee history of the delta 
when any engineer connected with it would hazard the conjecture that 
the line Was safe. They knew we were dependent simply upon the 
whim and caprice of the river, and the river at any unusual flood 
would overtop the levees as they were constructed. Give us those 
levees completed, and the revenue to-day of these districts is sufficient 
to maintain them and keep them, without a dollar of Government aid, 
if the Government should think it is a work we should carry on. 

Mr. Chairman, it is not to escape the burden of taxation that these 
conventions are held throughout the delta. It is not to escape the bur¬ 
den of taxation that we are pleading to you now. It is for safety we 
are pleading. Every people desire to be relieved of taxation, but that 
is a secondary consideration. The desire is that the Government will 
pledge its faith to put enough money there, added to our efforts, if it 
is thought w T e should still make these efforts, to give us safety, to give 
us a country where capital can be invested in security, to give us the 
richest country to-day where the laborer can reap the greatest return 
for his toil that the world knows of. 

Senator Gallinger. Just one question. I am interested in the com¬ 
mercial end of this, which the gentleman from Ohio emphasized. We 


24 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


have been spending this enormous amount of money on the Mississippi 
River. Is it a fact or not that the commerce has gradually decreased 
notwithstanding these appropriation? 

Mr. Percy. I think the commerce has not decreased, but the carry¬ 
ing capacity of the railroads has certainly increased. The tonnage 
has certainly increased. 

Captain Henry. The character of the commerce has changed, Sen¬ 
ator, but the amount is greater now than it ever was before. One 
boat goes down there now that carried 58,000 tons. 

Mr. Chairman, we thank }mu very much for the attention you have 
given us. 

Senator Berry. I want to ask to have printed as a Senate document 
the speeches made before the House committee and those made here 
to-day, and I would like to ask authority to have that done. 

Senator Oallinger. How voluminous are the speeches before the 
levee convention that was held at New Orleans ? 

Senator Berry. They are not so very large. I should be glad to 
include those. I move that the committee request that the Senate 
print as a document the speeches made at New Orleans and before the 
two committees. 

The Acting Chairman. That will be taken as agreed to unless 
objection is heard. 

The proceedings of the convention held at New Orleans are as 
follows: 


A work for the nation by the nation... ■ . 25 

President Roosevelt’s encouragement. 29 

Official report of routine proceedings of the convention. 29 

President Charles Scott’s opening address. 44 

Hopes of valley people revived by the Government (dlon. W. W. Heard, 

governor of Louisiana). 60 

Water the cheapest way to market (J. L. Vance, of Ohio, president of the 

Ohio Valley Improvement Association). 64 

The Mississippi the property of the nation (Hon. N. C. Blanchard, of the 

supreme bench of Louisiana). 66 

The allied question of irrigation (Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of the National 

Department of Agriculture). 72 

History of the levee system (Hon. Joseph E. Ransdell, Representative in Con¬ 
gress from Louisiana). 75 

The subjugation of the Mississippi (Hon. R. S. Taylor, of Indiana, member of 

the Mississippi River Commission). 80 

To overcome legislative difficulties (Hon. James H. Berry, United States 

Senator from Arkansas). 91 

New York’s dependence upon the valley’s prosperity (Hon. Charles S. Fair- 

child, ex-Secretary of the United States Treasury). 95 

National scope of the Mississippi problem (Richard H. Edmonds, editor of 

the Manufacturers’ Record, of Baltimore). 97 

The great channel of national commerce (Hon. John Sharp Williams, member 

of Congress from Mississippi). 105 

Interrelation of many broad subjects (George H. Maxwell, executive chairman 

of the National Irrigation Association). 108 

Report of the committee on resolutions... 40 


















IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


25 


A Work for the Nation by the Nation. 

Liberal, adequate aid by the Government in the improvement of the 
Mississippi River and its tributaries was distinctly elevated into a liv¬ 
ing* national issue by the convention of the Trans-Mississippi River 
Improvement and Levee Association, held at New Orleans October 
27-28, 1903. Never in all the years since the justice of national assist¬ 
ance in this gigantic enterprise was first proclaimed has so great a step 
forward been taken; never has so emphatic and unqualified an expres¬ 
sion in its favor been given by so numerous and representative a body 
of men, and never have such means for assuring the certainty of suc¬ 
cess been adopted. The whole country is now to be enlisted in behalf 
of this movement, and when Congress is asked, as it will be soon, to 
extend this rightful aid, so convincing a presentation of the case will 
have been made that no doubt can remain of favorable action by the 
nation’s representatives. 

Twenty-eight hundred delegates were appointed to this convention, 
a large number of whom were in attendance. One hundred and sixty- 
six cities and twenty-four States were represented, and besides Sena¬ 
tors, Congressmen, and governors, there were delegates from com¬ 
mercial bodies, organizations, and municipalities covering the great 
Mississippi Valley basin from its eastern confines to its western bor¬ 
ders. Veterans in river improvement and levee work, members of 
river commissions, and Senators and Congressmen who, as committee¬ 
men, have devoted many years to careful investigation and study of 
the subjects were present to give the convention the benefit of their 
stores of knowledge. Financiers of national renown attended and 
indorsed the movement. A Cabinet officer was one of the speakers 
for the cause, and all the influence of the Government’s head was 
pledged in support through a personal letter of indorsement from the 
President himself. 

In addition to these commitments, significant and invaluable as they 
are, favorable letters and telegrams were received from Senators and 
Congressmen, sufficient in number, it is computed, when added to 
known champions of this national movement, to insure legislation by 
Congress entirely favorable to the cause. 

There was dignity and majesty and might in eveiy movement of 
the meeting. The whole question of the occasion and the right of the 
Government to take a leading part in the great work of river improve¬ 
ment and levee construction was exhaustively and convincingly pre¬ 
sented, and the proceedings of the convention constitute a treatment of 
the whole tremendous question which, prepared in pamphlet form, will 
remain a text-book of enduring interest and permanent value. Unlike 
many conventions, the importance of this gathering did not cease with 
its adjournment. The benefits to come will be unceasing, and, like a 
council of war, the generals here convened separated but to act on the 
conclusions that were reached. The campaign of education will go on 
in congressional halls and wherever influential bodies of men and indi¬ 
viduals may be found, until the whole country knows and concedes the 
justice and the advantage of large governmental appropriations for 
the work in hand, and members of Congress will perceive that in tak¬ 
ing the action desired they are but following an overwhelming pre¬ 
ponderance of public opinion. 


26 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


By an arrangement with the executive committee of the association, 
the Manufacturers’ Record prints the convention proceedings in full, 
this constituting the only complete and authorized publication—the 
only publication, in fact, outside of the newspaper reports which 
appeared from day to day in the local press. This publication has 
been subscribed to by numerous organizations and individuals through¬ 
out the country, and it will be circulated wherever sentiment favorable 
to Government action is sought to be aroused. Herein are presented 
the speeches delivered and the letters and telegrams received. Herein 
are concentrated all the conclusions of the most eminent specialists and 
statesmen, who have, with large vision and expansive grasp, viewed 
the whole question of the improvement and control of the Mississippi 
and its tributaries, and brought their seasoned wisdom to a solution of 
the problems it presents. Herein is the subject treated in all the broad 
nationalism which a thorough comprehension of its magnitude involves, 
and herein are convincing arguments arrayed to demonstrate that not 
the farmers and the villagers of the Mississippi Valley alone, not New 
Orleans or any other city, are to be the sole beneficiaries from the 
work in hand, but every interest in the whole million and a quarter 
square miles of the area the Mississippi drains, eveiy incident to the 
civilization of this almost half of the nation’s domain, is affected by 
the better navigation and surer protection from disaster which are 
contemplated by the improvement and levee work proposed. And in 
the prosperity and well-being of this vast section, capable of a develop¬ 
ment such as the world has never seen, no part or parcel of the nation 
itself can fail to have an interest, vital and personal, whether voluntary 
or not. 

In the speeches and resolutions are to be found a complete survey 
of the entire question of improvement for navigation and protection 
from overflow. And it is noteworthy and significant that the navi¬ 
gation of the Ohio and other tributaries of the Mississippi received 
explicit and unqualified indorsement as a part of the whole plan of 
Government aid requested. What is proposed is, in effect, a union of 
all interests and a combination of efforts, so that by one comprehen¬ 
sive and pervasively intelligent plan the navigable waterways of the 
Mississippi River watershed may be brought to a permanent condition 
of the highest efficiency, while at the same time the lowlands, fertile 
almost beyond compare, shall be effectively and continuously protected 
from the overflows which occur when the Mississippi is swollen from 
waters of its tributary streams. 

Expert testimony w T as presented to determine the value of the levee 
system for the Lower Mississippi as against reservoir or outlet plans, 
which were pronounced unfeasible, here at least. There is no proof, 
it was declared, that levees result in a gradual elevation of the head of 
the river, while careful soundings indicate a more permanent channel 
and a benefit, therefore, to navigation. It was accordingly resolved 
that there should be completed continuous system of levees from 
Cairo to the Passes. A liberal estimate of the cost of this work was 
put down at $20,000,000, and it was urged that instead of $1,000,000 or 
so a year, as at present, the Government should appropriate $2,000,000 
or $3,000,000 a year, so that the work may be brought to completion 
in the smallest possible term of years. 

The right and the duty of the Government to undertake this work 
were held to be as clearly defined as its right and dut}" to reclaim the 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 27 

arid lands of the West or to set np defenses along the coast or to con¬ 
trol the navigation of the rivers. Instead of leaving to riparian land- 
owners the great burden of the expense of building and maintaining 
levees, as at present, it was furthermore held to be obligatory on the 
General Government to bear the larger part of the cost of protection 
from overflows by water which largely originates in other States. 

On the direct benefits which will result to the lower Mississippi 
Valley, and indirectly to the country at large, from complete protec¬ 
tion from overflow, many of the speakers dwelt with eloquent and 
alluring prophecy. It is estimated that complete levee protection will 
make possible the reclamation of at least 20,000,000 acres of bottom 
lands, now given over to swamps. Leaving out of consideration the 
value of the gum and cypress and other growths with which they are 
covered, these rich lands, when drained and cleared, would grow from 
a bale to a bale and a half of cotton to the acre, worth from $50 to 
$75, as well as produce other crops—rice in some cases, cane in others, 
and corn and forage of much value. Instead of being worth $5 an 
acre, more or less, they would become worth $30, $50, $100, or more, 
adding fabulous sums to the wealth of the country and supporting a 
population of added thousands on thousands of prosperous people. 

There can be no great increase in cotton production in this country 
until more lands suitable for cotton are opened up. Consumption of 
cotton is overtaking production, and prophecies are frequent^ made 
that the time must soon come when American spinners will require all 
we raise. Unless the cotton acreage is rapidly and materially increased 
there must be a constantly recurring famine in cotton and an ultimate 
permanent high price for the manufactured goods. And it is at pres¬ 
ent not demonstrated that any considerable addition to the world’s 
cotton supply is to be relied on from attempts to establish the industry 
in Africa and elsewhere. However, in any case the Mississippi River 
bottom lands, when reclaimed and protected from overflow, would 
constitute the richest agricultural section in the world. They would 
be taken up and tilled by enterprising and active planters and farmers 
from everywhere. 

Statistics were presented to show how enormously the reclamation 
of these lands would add to the wealth of the section in all ways and 
to the advantage of the nation. Side lights were thrown on the sub¬ 
ject by telegrams from George J. Gould and others. Mr. Gould 
wired his sympathy with the objects of the convention, and referred to 
the fact that his companies are extending and building lines between 
St. Louis and New Orleans and between New Orleans and the West, 
most of the $40,000,000 or $50,000,000 required being spent in the 
Mississippi Valley on the expectation and belief that the railroad 
property will be protected from floods and inundations. B. F. 
Yoakum, of the Frisco road, also wired his sympathy, and referred to 
the $50,000,000 his company is expending on its St. Louis-New Orleans 
line and terminals, a considerable portion of which road would be 
affected by overflows. The construction of these lines became a possi¬ 
bility only through the efforts that have been made to confine the 
waters of the Mississippi. Towns and sections hitherto without rail¬ 
roads will thus be provided with the transportation facilities necessary 
for their development, and New Orleans and St. Louis, as well as the 
towns and cities between and beyond, will become beneficiaries direct 
and to a vast degree. The destruction of property, the interference 


28 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


with travel, and the derangement of mail communications by overflows 
and floods is declared so great and general a public inconvenience and 
loss as furthermore to call for national recognition. 

A feature of the resolutions adopted, which has aroused vast inter¬ 
est in the East and received an enthusiastic reception in the North, 
was the unqualified approval given to the movement for the construc¬ 
tion of a waterway to connect the Lakes with the Mississippi and the 
Gulf—a crystallization of sentiment voiced so long ago as 1845, as 
evidenced in resolutions recently published by the Manufacturers’ 
Record, which were passed at a river-improvement convention held in 
Memphis in that year. And also in those resolutions of near sixty 
years ago is the argument now advanced—that as a military necessity 
the Government should improve and preserve the navigation of the 
Mississippi. 

Of the advantage New Orleans will gain from having carried out 
the work as called for in the resolutions passed at the convention just 
held there was public and private discussion at length during the con¬ 
vention and frequently since. That it will benefit to a large degree is 
a conclusion reached at once. That this benefit will be other than an 
advantage to the whole South and the country at large as well is a 
proposition strenuously denied. With the cultivation and development 
of vast sections of contiguous lands now idle a larger local trade would 
follow as a matter of course, but in the benefits the manufacturers of 
the country generally would have a share. An examination of the 
brands of machinery, clothing, household goods and wares of any 
family in the country anywhere would reveal how impossible it is for 
a waste place to be occupied and built up without advantage to widely" 
distributed industries. Made safe from inundations, the valley lands 
would be occupied by many thousands of settlers, who would become 
revenue producers for the railroads. 

With improved navigation from the Lakes and far up the Ohio the 
whole Mississippi Valley would become, to an increased extent, 
tributary territory to the cities along those waterways. New 
Orleans will be the great gateway from the Mississippi Valley 
drainage basin to the countries south and even to the east and west of 
America—immeasurably greater on the completion of the isthmian 
canal. New Orleans is even now getting back to her position of 
supremacy as the trading port for all this valley territory, a position 
assigned by her nature, occupied without question before 1861, and 
only temporarily relinquished when artificial outlets of necessity 
diverted eastward the traffic of her territory, following the shock of 
war and the destruction of her facilities for trade in the desolation 
and devastation that ensued. The largest city of the South, in the 
richest agricultural State in the Union, the trading port of the most 
fertile valley in the world, it is small wonder that New Orleans is now 
outranked by but one other American city as an exporter of grain, is 
growing constantly in every way, and is looked upon as certain to 
become one of the greatest trading marts of the world. And when 
shippers find it more profitable to trade through this port the} T are 
gainers in wealth, and the whole country is a partaker in the benefits 
derived. 


Albert Phenis. 


IMPROVEMENT OE THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


29 


President Roosevelt’s Encouragement. 

White House, 

Washington, September 28, 1903. 

My Dear Mr. Parker: Permit me through you to express my 
very great interest in the work of the interstate Levee Convention. 
Exactly as I have taken a keen interest in irrigation in the arid regions, 
so I feel that the movement for thoroughly protecting the Mississippi 
lowlands b} 7 levees is one of importance to the whole country, no less 
than to the people immediatel} 7 adjoining the great river. 1 wish all 
success to your convention, and shall follow its proceedings with close 
attention. 

Sincerel}", yours, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

Mr. John M. Parker, 

816 Union Street, New Orleans, La. 


Convention of the Interstate Mississippi River Improvement 
and Levee Association, held at New Orleans, La., on Octo¬ 
ber 27 and 28, 1903— Official Report. 

FIRST DAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

The convention was called to order at 12 noon by President Charles 
Scott, Capt. J. W. Bryant acting as secretary. After the opening 
prayer by the Rev. Beverly B. Warner, and after a photograph had 
been taken of the assembly, the chair invited to the platform all gov¬ 
ernors, ex-governors, and members of Congress who were present. 
President Scott then delivered his address to the convention. (For 
President Scott’s address see page 44.) 

At the conclusion of President Scott’s address the convention 
adjourned until 3.15 p. m. 

The convention reassembled at 3.15 o’clock in the afternoon, with 
President Scott in the chair, Secretary Bryant at the desk, and a full 
membership present. 

President Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, if an Englishman in 
the heart of London, just where the great English people have erected 
their statue to the immortal victor of Trafalgar, should arise and 
attempt to introduce to the assembled populace Edward VII, his work 
would be no more unnecessary and superogatory than would be mine 
if 1 attempted to introduce to you the next speaker, your gallant gov¬ 
ernor, the Hon. W. W. Heard. [Great applause.] 

(For the address of Governor Heard see p. 60.) 

President Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, I regret to announce 
that the distinguished mayor of this city is unavoidably detained. Mr. 
Secretary, will you kindly read the letter from Mayor Capdevielle. 

Secretary Bryant then read a letter from Mayor Capdevielle, as 
follows: 

City Hall, New Orleans, October 27, 1903. 

Mr. J. N. Luce, 

Chairman Levee Convention, City. 

My Dear Mr. Luce: I deeply regret my inability, on account of 
pressure of business, to attend this afternoon’s session of your con¬ 
vention. 



30 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


I regret it all the more, as I went to the convention hall this morn¬ 
ing for the purpose of telling your members verbally that which I now 
beg leave to transmit in writing. 

I am particularly pleased to see the manner in which the delegates 
have responded to the call, and the interest manifested by them in the 
cause convinces me that their efforts will be crowned with success. 

You can. it is not necessary for me to say, depend upon our hearty 
cooperation. I would have been pleased to extend personally to the 
members of the convention, as J now do, a warm and most cordial 
welcome. 

Yours, very sincerely, 

Paul Capdevielle, Mayor . 

President Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, it seems that this 
august assemblage, with its handsome personnel, has made a distinct 
impression on the photographers. Mr. J. E. Edmonds, representing 
the Times-Democrat, states that you have grown in beauty more and 
more as time goes by, and he requests the honor, in the name of his 
great paper, of taking yowx photograph. If, without rising, the 
members of the convention will be kind enough to turn their faces, or 
their chairs, in the opposite direction, the photographer will press the 
button and do the rest. [Laughter and applause.] 

Thereupon a flash-light photograph was again taken of the convention. 

President Scott. The next thing in order is the election of a tem¬ 
porary chairman. 

Hon. Theodore S. Wilkinson, of Louisiana. Mr. Chairman and 
gentlemen, it is my privilege to present to this convention the name 
of a gentleman who has ever been a true friend of our great cause. I 
present the name of a gentleman who, a quarter of a century ago, had 
won distinguished honor and esteem in public life, and who, through 
all the years that came afterwards, never forgetting his duty to his 
people, his State, and his country, made a name famous in the indus¬ 
trial and commercial world, so that wherever that name is known it 
is a synon} 7 m of honor and probity eveiywhere. 

Bui, Mr. President, I don’t speak of him now as a leader in indus¬ 
trial and commercial life. I speak of him as a member and a friend 
of this association and of the people of our valley for nearly three- 
quarters of a score of years. I speak of his associations with all our 
past efforts for the people of the valley. He has been a friend of the 
farmer, whose products he has sought to bring unvexed to the sea. 
He has been a friend of the merchant, whose wares have been brought 
closer to buyers on various shores. He has been a friend to the fac¬ 
tory owner and the factory worker, whose products he has helped to 
send, at a cheaper rate, not only to England and to France, but as far 
as distant Siberia itself. Mr. Chairman, as a representative of those 
who live behind the earthen bulwarks that guard us against the 
mighty floods that dash against our doors and sometimes through 
those doors; as a dweller among all the thousands who live behind 
these slender ramparts; as one who has suffered from the ravages of 
this great river, and as one who for many long recurring }^ears has 
ever fought with all the fire of his manhood against this great danger 
on our front, I present the name of a gentleman who has been, and 
ever will be, until death claims him as its own, a friend of all the 
people of all the Mississippi Valley, ex-Lieutenant-Governor Stanard, 
of Missouri. [Great applause.] 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


31 


Mr. Frank Gaiennie, of St. Louis. Mr. President, I trust that this 
convention will indulge me for a moment in the pardonable pride that 
I feel because our fellow-delegate from the city of St. Louis has been 
mentioned for the temporary chairmanship of this body. Governor 
Stanard has stood, from the time of the jetties, when he was in Con¬ 
gress, in favor of the alleviation of the people of this great Mississippi 
Valley. We of St. Louis are not only bound to you by the ties of 
consanguinity, but by commercial ties, and by everything that affects 
the welfare of the people of this great valley of the great Father of 
Y\ aters. We are not only here to-day with 3 mu, but we are for you 
to the end. [Applause.] We come from our Western homes down 
here with our hearts filled with sympathy, because we can hardly 
understand why these great flood heads are turned on you unless we 
help provide a remedy for you. [Applause.] We come, too, with 
the boast that St. Louis has always been represented in every river 
and harbor convention that has ever been held in this valley. [Ap¬ 
plause.] We have never asked for anything locally unless we believed 
that it would benefit the river from the Falls of St. Anthony to the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

Governor Stanard will carry weight in your deliberations, and in 
Congress he will carr}' votes from our northwest country. It was only 
the other da}^ that I was in Davenport, at a river convention, when 1 
was chosen to make one of the delegation to come down here and 
express the sympathy of those people with this convention in the great 
subject which you are undertaking to deal with. All that northwest¬ 
ern valley, from Cairo to St. Paul, from the mouth of the Missouri to 
its headwaters, has ninety votes in Congress, and, mji friends, that’s 
what counts after all. [Applause.] My people sent me to come here 
with words of sympath} T , and in }^our selection of our fellow-townsman, 
whom we respect, and who is one of the best citizens we have in 
St. Louis, public spirited, honest, tried and found worthy, we hope 
that you will confirm the nomination made by the gentleman from 
Louisiana. [Applause.] 

Col. W. T. Dowdell, of Illinois. Mr. President, as delegate at large 
from Illinois, appointed by Governor Yates of that State, and as dele¬ 
gate from Memphis, appointed by Mayor Williams, of that city, I 
am here as a delegate from two States, and yet I am not twins. As 
Congress has enacted a law against polygamy, I guess I will have to 
select between the two, and not that I love Memphis less, but Illinois 
more, I will ask to be introduced as the gentleman from Illinois. Gen¬ 
tlemen of the convention, as delegate from a sister State I rise to sec¬ 
ond the nomination of Governor Stanard, of St. Louis. We in Illi¬ 
nois claim him as our own. It was as schoolmaster in a rural portion 
of Madison County, Ill., Governor Stanard entered upon the battle of 
life. A year later he accepted the position of bookkeeper for the com¬ 
mission house of Samuel Spruance, in Alton, displaying the energy and 
industry that have characterized his life. He kept the books and 
found time to spend three days a week on the road, soliciting patron¬ 
age for the firm. In a few years Mr. Spruance died and his business 
house was closed. Young Stanard, in order to reap the benefit of his 
acquaintanceship on the road, opened a commission house in St. Louis, 
reaping a rich harvest. In a few years he returned to Alton and pur¬ 
chased the flouring mills of S. & P. Wise. Soon after his mills were 
destroyed by fire. Characteristic of the man, he rebuilt at once on a 


32 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


much larger scale, and for the past thirty years has been turning out 
1,800 barrels of Hour daily, amassing for himself a large fortune. 
While his home has been in St. Louis, his principal business interests 
are and have been in Alton; therefore Illinois claims him as her own. 

Gentlemen of the convention, I congratulate you upon starting the 
work of this convention along liberal lines. Governor Stanard is a 
man of broad and liberal views. The selection of such men to formu¬ 
late your work is a long step in the right direction and toward achiev¬ 
ing success. Your committee on resolutions should be composed of 
the same kind of men, who will formulate a platform of principles 
broad enough for all and good enough for the most skeptical to stand 
upon, declaring for the improvement of the Mississippi River and its 
tributaries, for the purpose of improving their channels for navigable 
purposes, the leveeing of their banks tor the reclamation of swamp 
and low lands from overflow. Of course, the work will commence at 
the jetties, and proceeding north, when Cairo has been reached and 
the work successfully accomplished, that far making the levees abso¬ 
lutely safe against the raging floods of the mighty Mississippi. 

Then the Ohio, the most important commercial artery of u the 
Father of Waters,” should be improved to its source; the Red River, 
the White River, the Arkansas River, the Tennessee, the Cumber¬ 
land, and so on to the raging waters of the old Missouri, and on 
up to St. Paul, Minn., not forgetting the Illinois River, one of 
the smallest in size, but greatest in power of them all. That river 
washes the eastern border of Peoria, a city that paid into the Federal 
Treasury the last fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, the sum of $32,- 
413,033.13, which is more than five times as much as the amount paid 
by the entire New England States during that period of time and 
almost one-eighth of the amount collected last year from the entire 
United States. All the New England States combined paid last fiscal 
year $6,023,650.77, and the entire amount of internal revenue collected 
and paid into the United States Treasury last fiscal year ended dune 
30, 1903, was $230,740,382.57, while the city of Peoria, as said before, 
paid nearly one-eighth of the whole sum. Since the internal-revenue 
law went into effect, July 1, 1862, Peoria has paid into the Federal 
Treasury up to the 30th of last June $506,354,708.27, and at least 
$10,000,000 since the 30th of last June. I give these figures as given 
to me by Captain Rennick, collector of internal revenue of the Peoria, 
111., district, and vouch for their correctness. 

Gentlemen of the convention, I say that those who furnish the grease 
to make the wagon go have a right to the transportation of their freight 
b} T the best possible means. We have the right on our side. We pay 
the money into the Federal Treasury, and backed, as we are, b}^ the 
votes of a majority of the American people, in the language of Old 
Hickory, “By the eternal” we have a right and will ride in the band¬ 
wagon of internal improvements. 

Gentlemen, “No pent-up Utica contracts your powers, but the whole 
boundless continent is yours.” The Mississippi Valley, commencing 
at the Alleghanies in the East, extending to the Rockies in the West, 
from Canada on the North to the Gulf of Mexico in the South, con¬ 
tains a territory for richness of soil and productiveness in agricultural 
pursuits surpassed by none and equaled only by the imagination of 
those possessing the most vivid imaginary powers. There is nothing 
under the shining sun of Heaven that succeeds with Congressmen, 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


33 


Senators, and Presidents like votes. We have the votes. Impart that 
information to Congress through the press and you will find it at vour 
feet, ready, willing, and anxious to do your bidding. Demand this as 
your right and your efforts will be crowned with success. [Applause.] 

Governor Stanard was then elected temporary chairman of the 
convention by a rising vote. 

President Scott. The great State of Missouri, as you have always 
heard, has ever been a steadfast and stalwart friend of Mississippi 
River improvements, and has ever stood ready to lend a helping hand 
in the reclamation of the alluvial lands. Among all the sturdy figures 
there, among all the unique men who have stood out in bold promi¬ 
nence, ever ready to help in this noble fight is the distinguished gen¬ 
tleman whom I now have the honor of presenting to this convention 
as its temporary chairman. [Applause.] 

Ex-Governor Stanard, upon taking the chair, addressed the con¬ 
vention as follows: 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, 1 hardly know what I will be 
expected to sa}^ after the remarks which have been made. I will, 
however, sav thank you. 

I am very much obliged for the honor you have conferred upon me 
b}^ designating me to preside temporarily over the deliberations of 
this convention. I have been very much interested in the things I 
have seen and the things I have heard since I have been in New 
Orleans to-day. This is the largest river-improvement convention 
which I have ever attended. However, I haven’t attended many 
assemblages of this kind for quite a number of years. For some rea¬ 
son we haven’t had as many up in the Northern States as we used to 
have ten or fifteen years ago. It seems to me, though, that the peo¬ 
ple who are here from the country north of Cairo ought to take new 
inspiration on the subject of river improvement after we have 
observed the grand example given to us by the people of the city of 
New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, and the other States adjoining 
here, who are so specially interested in the matters which this conven¬ 
tion was designated to consider. [Applause.] 

We are here to consider the question of the improvement of the 
levees, and, I may say, of the waterwaj^s between Cairo and the jetties 
at the mouth of the Mississippi River. But there is something more 
necessary to be done in the region of country which I have described, 
and which most of you represent, than the construction of levees. It 
is necessary to have permanent improvement the year round, and year 
after year: and some years it is necessary that dredging improvements 
should be made between the mouth of the Ohio River and the city of 
Memphis. I believe there is nothing to interfere with the navigation 
from Memphis down to the jetties at any season of the year, and not 
nearly as much to be done in the shape of dredging between Memphis 
and the mouth of the Ohio River as there is in the region of country 
north of the mouth of the Ohio. It seems to me, therefore, that we 
should get and will have new inspiration, because not a great deal has 
been done north of the Ohio. 

Now, at the Congress before last, almost two years ago, there was 
made an appropriation of $2,000,000 a year, for four years to come, 
for the improvement of the levees below Cairo to the mouth of the 
Missisippi River. That, of course, is a considerable sum in itself, and 

S. Doc. 245, 58-2-3 


34 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


when we consider the remarks of your president, Mr. Scott, who 
addressed us this morning, that during the great tiood within the past 
year only some three or four places in your levees were interrupted 
or overflowed, we must really come to the conclusion that you have 
been doing a wonderful sight of work toward the improvements which 
are necessary, and that the people of the northern section ought to 
emulate your example [applause], get to work, and improve the waters 
of their portion of the country. To do this we want your assistance. 
If it is given, and if the rivers are made absolutely navigable the year 
round north of Cairo, the exportation of the products of this country 
to foreign shores will always be by way of New Orleans and the mouth 
of the Mississippi River. [Applause.] 

We want your influence, and you shall have ours. [Applause.] 
Notwithstanding these $2,000,000 which you get per } T ear I can well 
comprehend that it is necessary to make these improvements of the 
levees permanent and substantial, even though it cost $20,000,000 or 
$30,000,000. [Applause.] 

I am sure, from some things that have happened in the past few 
weeks, that the people in the northern portion of the Mississippi Val¬ 
ley are taking a deep interest in the improvement of the western 
rivers. They have held two conventions, one at Evansville, recom¬ 
mending the improvement of the Ohio River, and one last week at 
Davenport, recommending the substantial improvement of the Missis¬ 
sippi from Cairo to its headwaters. At the last convention resolu¬ 
tions were adopted asking Congress to appropriate $15,000,000 for 
the improvement of these northern rivers, and this begins to show that 
we are taking a deep interest in the work. 

There is another element to be considered, and that is that almost 
half of the States represented here to-day are north of the city of 
Cairo or the mouth of the Ohio River. [Applause.] 

Gentlemen, we propose to emulate your example and do what we 
can for the promotion of the interests of the lower Mississippi, and 
we want your help in the work on behalf of the northern waters of 
that great stream. [Applause.] You know, and we all know, that if 
the Congressmen from all of the twenty-one States that are represented 
here will unite in this grand work, such appropriations as are neces- 
sar} r for the improvement of the banks in the lower valley and for the 
dredging and improving the navigation of the rivers above Cairo can 
be had at any session of Congress. [Applause.] But it takes united 
and continuous and unceasing energy and work along these lines. 
[Applause.] 

One of the reasons why the northern county that 1 have described 
is so largely represented and is taking so great an interest in the 
improvement of the Mississippi River and its tributaries is on account 
of the lack of transportation facilities in our section. Our industries 
seem to have grown much more rapidly than our transportation facil¬ 
ities have done. It is almost impossible sometimes for merchants to 
get their goods into their stores and warehouses or for manufacturers 
to send their products out to the world because of the lack of trans¬ 
portation facilities generally. Therefore we want the Mississippi 
River opened from the headwaters to the Gulf [applause], and then 
a large share of goods and products that we send abroad will find their 
way down that great river past the city of New Orleans into the Gulf 
of Mexico, to be distributed to the world. [Great applause.] 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


35 


Gentlemen, we have heard a great deal of talk about the isthmian 
canal, involving an expenditure of perhaps $200,000,000. How are 
the products of the northern and central country, and the cotton, the 
sugar, the rice, and all the fruits of this fertile soil to be exported 
to the people of the world? Some day, not in my time, but during 
the life and activity of many of the younger men of this convention, 
that canal will be observed as of the greatest importance [applause], 
and then there will be need for increased transportion facilities in this 
section to distribute the products of the United States to the people 
of the world. It is well, indeed, for us to look a little ahead. 

Now, gentlemen of New Orleans, we want you to have whatever 
you ought to have in order to make your levees complete and in order 
to save your crops of cotton, of sugar, and of rice from overflow. 
[Applause.] We want to help you. But don’t forget us up in the 
center of the country. [Laughter and applause.] 

The State of Illinois is the fourth in point of population in the United 
States, and the State of Missouri.is the fifth, and there are no two States 
that are increasing in wealth and population and in general industrial 
activities, I believe, more rapidly than those two States. [Applause.] 
We must not forget the State of Kansas, with her 100,000,000 bushels 
of wheat and her 200,000,000 bushels of corn this year, and other farm 
products in the same proportion. We must not forget Nebraska, com¬ 
ing sixth in point of agricultural production. We must not forget 
Oklahoma [applause], producing 40,000,000 bushels of wheat this year 
and other products in proportion. These are matters that we have got 
to take into consideration. There is no part of this country, no part of 
the world, that is increasing in wealth, in population, and in industrial 
activities more than the country in the center of the United States, 
say in the valley of the Mississippi. All that country is tributary to 
New Orleans. [Great applause.] Excuse me for talking so long. 
[Applause, and a voice: “Go ahead.”] 

Mr. Murray F. Smith, of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I nominate 
for temporary secretaries of this convention two gentlemen who have 
been identified with Mississippi River interests for many years—Capt. 
J. W. Bryant, secretary of the waterways commission, and W. A. 
Everman, secretary of the Interstate Levee Association. [Applause.] 

The motion being put, was unanimously carried, and the chair then 
recognized Mr. J. L. Vance, of Ohio, who addressed the convention. 

(For the speech of Mr. Vance, see p. 64.) 

Mr. John M. Parker. I move for the appointment of a committee 
on permanent organization, to consist of one member from each State, 
to meet as soon as possible in the anteroom and to report to this con¬ 
vention their suggestions, so that we can get to the practical work as 
soon as possible. 

Mr. Hastings, of Cairo. I move that the delegates from each of the 
States represented name two members on the committee on permanent 
organization. 

Mr. Parker. I move that it be entirely left to the discretion of the 
chair. 

The Chair. Oh, no; I won’t do that. Mr. Parker moves that one 
member from each State be appointed on this committee on permanent 
organization. The gentleman on my left moves that two members 
from each State be appointed. Do you still insist upon your motion, 
Mr. Parker? 


36 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


Mr. Parker. I do. 

The Chair. Then the motion made by Mr. Hastings will have to be 
in the nature of an amendment, if he insists upon two members. 

Mr. Hastings. I offer it as an amendment. 

The motion of Mr. Hastings, being put to the convention on a viva 
voce vote, the Chair declared himself unable to decide. A rising vote 
was then taken upon the amendment offered by Mr. Hastings, and 
which was declared lost by the chair. The question recurring upon 
the original motion of Mr. Parker, the same was put to the convention 
and carried unanimously. 

The chair then announced the following as the committee on per¬ 
manent organization: John M. Parker, chairman; Hon. Isaac M. 
Mason, Missouri; Hon. L. M. Magill, Illinois; Hon. Leroy Percy, 
Mississippi; Col. J. L. Vance, Ohio; C. L. Robinson, Kentucky; 
George H. Anderson, Pennsylvania; E. W. Shirk, Indiana; Sam. 
Phillips, Tennessee; J. Hy. Lafaye, Louisiana; Greenfield Quarles, 
Arkansas; R. W. Lev} 7 , New York; John A. Mcllhenny, Louisiana. 

Col. J. L. Vance, of Ohio. 1 ask that my name be withdrawn, and 
that Judge John S. Connor, of Cincinnati, be substituted. 

There being no objection, the substitution suggested by Colonel 
Vance was made. 

Colonel Vance. Is a motion in order in relation to the committee 
on resolutions ? 

The Chair. I understand that Mr. John M. Parker has an impor¬ 
tant letter to read from the President of the United States. I am 
sure that the convention would like to hear it. 

Secretary Bryant. Mr. Parker has gone out with the committee. 

At this stage, upon motion of Gen. T. C. Catchings, of Mississippi, 
the convention took a recess for five minutes, the delegates remaining 
in their chairs. 

AFTER RECESS. 

Secretary Bryant. I am requested to notify all those who hold 
round-trip tickets of the Western Passenger Association and the Cen¬ 
tral Passenger Association that they will have to be signed by me as 
secretary of the convention. I will be at the service of anybody on 
to-morrow morning from ten minutes past eight up to the time of the 
assembling of the convention, and those that don’t have their tickets 
signed at that time can have it done in the afternoon. I will be here 
at the hall for that purpose. 

The Chair. I have the pleasure to say that Mr. Wilson, Secretary 
of Agriculture, will address this convention this evening at 8 o’clock. 
I now take pleasure in introducing Mr. John M. Parker, of New 
Orleans. [Applause.] 

Mr. Parker. Gentlemen, before reading the report of the com¬ 
mittee on permanent organization, it gives me great pleasure to read 
a letter to you from the President of the United States. [Applause.] 

White House, 

Washington , D. C ., September 28, 1908. 

My Dear Mr. Parker: Permit me, through you, to express my 
very great interest in the work of the Interstate Levee Convention. 
Exactly as I have taken a keen interest in irrigation in the arid regions, 
so I feel that the movement for thoroughly protecting the Mississippi 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


37 


lowlands by levees is one of importance to the whole country no less 
than to the people immediately adjoining the great river. I wish all 
success to your convention, and shall follow its proceedings with close 
attention. 

Sincerely, yours, Theodore Roosevelt. 

Mr. Parker. The clearest and most unequivocal document in favor 
of national control that has ever been issued in this or an} T other 
country. [Applause.] 

Mr. Murray F. Smith, of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I want to 
offer the following resolutions: 

u Resolved, That the thanks of the people of the Mississippi Valley 
are hereby tendered to President Roosevelt, through this convention, 
for his manly and patriotic letter indorsing the purposes for which 
this convention has been called, to wit, the deepening and improving 
of the channel of the Mississippi River and the protection of the vast 
area of alluvial and fertile territory along its banks from devastation 
by floods, thereb}^ conserving and facilitating the vast and growing 
interstate commerce already transacted through the medium of great 
railroad systems behind the levees. 

44 Resolved further, That the chairman and secretary of this conven¬ 
tion be requested to wire these resolutions to the President.” 

The resolutions offered by Mr. Smith were put to a vote and adopted 
unanimously. 

Mr. Parker then read the report of the committee on permanent 
organization, as follows: 

New Orleans, La., October 27, 1903. 

Hon. E. O. Stanard, 

Temporary Chairman Interstate Mississippi Levee Convention. 

Sir: The committee on permanent organization beg leave to report 
as follows: 

They recommend that Hon. Charles Scott, of Rosedale, Miss., be 
elected the permanent chairman of this convention. 

That John W. Bryant, of Louisiana, and William A. Everman, of 
Mississippi, be elected permanent secretaries. 

They further recommend that there be a committee on resolutions, 
to consist of two delegates from each State represented in the conven¬ 
tion and ten delegates at large, to whom all resolutions shall be referred 
for consideration without previous debate, and that the members of 
this committee shall be appointed by the permanent chairman. 

Having now fulfilled all the duties incumbent upon them, your com¬ 
mittee request their discharge. 

Respectfully submitted. 

John M. Parker, Chairman. 

The report of the committee on permanent organization was received 
and adopted unanimously, and Mr. Charles Scott thereupon assumed 
the chair. 

Mr. Scott. Permit me to return my profound thanks for this dis¬ 
tinguished honor. What is the pleasure of the convention? 

Mr. King, of New Iberia, La. Is this the time for resolutions? 

Mr. W. H. Stovall, of Mississippi. I would suggest that a com¬ 
mittee on resolutions be appointed before any resolutions are received, 
otherwise you have no committee to which to refer them. 


38 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


The Chair. There is, properly speaking, nothing before the con¬ 
vention. 

Mr. Dowdell. I move that the chairman appoint a committee on 
resolutions. 

Which motion, being put, was unanimously carried. 

The Chair. The chairman will announce the committee when we 
meet here this evening at 8 o’clock; you have been wearied with quite 
a long attendance. It is suggested that the convention take a recess 
until 8 o’clock, and if there is no objection, that will be done. 

(Recess until 8 o’clock p. m.) 

NIGHT SESSION, OCTOBER 27. 

The convention was called to order at 8 o’clock p. m., with President 
Scott in the chair, Secretary Bryant at the desk, and a number of 
delegates present. 

Secretary Bryant. I have been requested to announce that the cot¬ 
ton exchange, on the corner of Carondelet and Gravie'r streets, is open 
to the visiting delegates and invites a call from them. Their badges 
will admit them to the floor of the exchange. The same invitation is 
extended bv the New Orleans Board of Trade, and also by the Young 
Men’s Gymnastic Club, on Rampart between Canal and Custom-House 
streets. I also announce that the New Orleans Railways Company 
tenders a trolley ride to the delegates for 5 o’clock to-morrow after¬ 
noon. The starting place of the cars will be announced at the morn¬ 
ing session to-morrow. 

There will also be a river excursion tendered to the delegates and the 
ladies. The boat will leave the head of Canal street Thursday after¬ 
noon at 2 o’clock, and will return to the wharf at 5 o’clock, which will 
give delegates time for dinner and to leave on the evening train. The 
excursion will take in the river front, going up as high as Southport, 
about 9 miles above Canal street, which will afford a view of the Stuy- 
vesant wharves, with its elevators, and the Texas and Pacific wharves, 
with its elevators. The boat will also go down the river to Port 
Chalmette, the national cemetery and the naval dock, and thence on 
down to the sugar plantations, where it will stop so as to give the 
delegates an opportunity of going into the sugar-house and observing 
the process of manufacture. 

Chairman Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, it is well sometimes 
that we take a retrospect. The levee cause, the reclamation of the 
great alluvial basin of the Mississippi River, is now at the high tide of 
prosperity. I think we can well assume that on the adjournment of 
this distinguished convention, by following up our efforts in a proper 
way, we will necessarily secure a larger assistance from the General 
Government than we have ever been able to get in the past, and that 
ultimately the National Government will relieve us in large measure 
of this onerous burden. This has not always been the case. Going 
back some years ago it was impossible to get an appropriation from 
the national Congress for levees per se. Even those who were most 
ardently in favor of internal improvements did not dare at that time to 
advocate such an advanced measure on the floor of the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives or in the United States Senate. 

The way has been long and the wind has been cold, and standing out 
prominently throughout the struggle, I may say, without any discrimi- 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


39 


nation against others, were a band of distinguished valley statesmen 
who never shirked their duty and whose services to the Mississippi 
Yalley should be ever remembered with gratitude. One of these gen¬ 
tlemen come from my native State, Gen. T. C. Catchings, known far 
and wide as the levee champion. [Applause.] With him, working 
shoulder to shoulder, trusted brothers in arms, as it were, were two 
distinguished Louisianians who always did the full measure of their 
duty. One these was Senator Gibson, now passed awa}^; the other is 
is the distinguished gentleman, Hon. N. C. Blanchard, whom I now 
have the honor of introducing to you. [Great applause.] 

(For speech of Judge Blanchard see p. 66.) 

President Scott. We have with us to-night, gentlemen of the con¬ 
vention, a very distinguished visitor, a member of the President’s offi¬ 
cial family, who, in answer to our urgent invitation, has kindly con¬ 
sented to address you. 1 have the honor of introducing Mr. Secretary 
Wilson, of the Department of Agriculture. 

(For the speech of Secretary Wilson see p. 72.) 

Chairman Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, my observation 
teaches me that the great State of Louisiana is always equal to every 
emergency. She always raises, for instance, big crops of cotton; 
she can be relied upon to raise big crops of rice; she has been known 
as the largest producer of sugar cane in America, and we find that she 
continues now, as in the past, to raise plentiful crops of great men and 
accomplished statesmen. [Applause.] And so as you have lost in 
Congress by death Senator Gibson, a very useful man in connection 
with your levee work, and as the other great levee champion, Judge 
Blanchard, has retired to accept judicial honors within the borders of 
your State, another Richmond has entered the field. Permit me to 
introduce to you the Prince Rupert of Louisiana politicians, Hon. 
Joseph E. Ransdell. 

(For the speech of Congressman Ransdall see p. 75.) 

Chairman Scott. The chair will now announce the list of the com¬ 
mittee on resolutions. It will be composed of the following gentlemen: 

Members at large. —T. C. Catchings, chairman, Mississippi; John M. 
Parker, Louisiana; W. J. Daly, Indiana; Leroy Percy, Mississippi; 
J. N. Luce, Louisiana; Capt. W. B. Mallory, Tennessee; Capt. Patrick 
Henry, Arkansas; Col. Green Clay, Missouri; C. F. Huff, Missouri; 
George Parsons, Illinois. 

Members from. States. —J. E. Williams, Indiana; J. H. Odell, 
Indiana; J. F. Ellison, Ohio; J. L. Yance, Ohio; Geo. H. Anderson, 
Pennsylvania; N. B. Kelly, Pennsylvania; Frank Wenter, Illinois; W. 
E. Troutman, Illinois; Dr. J. T. Atterbury, Mississippi; R. F. Abbey, 
Mississippi; R. W. Levy, New York; E. L. Cavanaugh, New York; 
N. H. Sewall, Alabama; W. L. Slater, California; E. B. Cushing, 
Texas; L. S. Thorne, Texas; J. S. B. Thompson, Georgia. 

At this point the convention adjourned until to-morrow morning, 
October 28, 1903, at 10 o’clock. 

SECOND DAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

The convention met pursuant to adjournment at 10 o’clock a. m., 
President Scott, Secretary Bryant, and a large membership being 
present. ...... 

Chairman Scott. Gentlemen, there is one man in the Mississippi 
Yalley of colossal mind, of brave heart, and willing hands, whose 


40 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


name is loved and honored and revered by every man who has fought 
the great fight and helped to win the great battle of the Hoods. You 
will have the pleasure of hearing from him this morning. It is unnec¬ 
essary for me to add, after what I have said, that the distinguished 
gentleman is Judge Robert S. Taylor, who will now address you. 
[Great applause.] 

(For the speech of Judge Taylor see p. 80.) 

Chairman Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, the alluvial basin of 
the Mississippi River has always been fortunate enough to have in the 
United States Senate able and distinguished friends. Among them, 
all there is one who has been to us a tower of strength; one who has 
ever been found where the battle raged fiercest and longest; one who 
on a recent memorable occasion snatched victory from the jaws of defeat 
and saved to the alluvial sections the appropriation for the Mississippi 
River when even its most sanguine friends thought it had been irre¬ 
trievably lost; a man of heroic mold, morally, intellectually, and phys¬ 
ically; one who says in deeds, if not in words— 

How can man die better 
Than fighting fearful odds, 

For the ashes of his fathers 
And the temples of his gods? 

[Applause.] 

I present to you, gentlemen, the Chevalier Bayard of the United 
States Senate—the Hon. James H. Berry, Senator from the State of 
Arkansas. [Applause.] 

(For the speech of Senator Berry see p. 91.) 

The convention took a recess until the afternoon. 

AFTER RECESS. 

General Catchings. I desire to submit a report of the committee on 
resolutions. 1 desire to say that the committee was in session all morn¬ 
ing engaged in the discharge of the duty imposed upon it, and the 
members were thereby deprived of hearing some very excellent 
speeches. I will say that all of the States represented here were rep¬ 
resented in that committee, and I am sure that the resolutions were 
satisfactory at least to the members of the committee who were pres¬ 
ent. Now, with your permission, I will read them. 

(For resolutions see p. 1.) 

On motion of General Catchings the resolutions were unanimously 
carried. 

General Catchings. Gentlemen, I am directed by the committee to 
report this further resolution: 

“ Resolved^ That it is the sense of this convention that the work of 
the Interstate Mississippi River Improvement and Levee Association, 
under the wise and able guidance of its president, Charles Scott, has 
been of great and lasting value, and its continuance is a matter of vital 
importance, and that this organization as it exists, with Charles Scott 
as its president and J. W. Bryant and W. A. Everman as its secre¬ 
taries, be continued, and that Charles Scott be authorized to appoint 
three members from each State as members of the executive committee 
of said association.” 

Gentlemen, in view of the fact that this resolution refers directly to 
the chairman, I will take the liberty of putting the question. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


41 


The resolution was then put to a vote and unanimously adopted. 

President Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, permit me to express 
my sincere and cordial thanks for this evidence of your confidence and 
esteem. What is the further pleasure of the convention? 

Mr. J. N. Luce. I move that the chair be authorized to appoint a 
delegation to present these resolutions and a memorial to both Houses 
of Congress; that the chair take his own time in so doing, making the 
appointment either before or after the adjournment of the convention, 
and that he give, as we know he will give, consideration to all recom¬ 
mendations that are made by State delegations or by commercial 
bodies who are with us in the selection of that delegation. I know of 
no man who is better fitted to make the selection than our chairman. 
[Applause.] 

The foregoing motion, being duly seconded, was put to the conven¬ 
tion and carried unanimously. 

President Scott. 1 am requested to state that the undisposed busi¬ 
ness of the convention is so great that the trolley ride will necessarily 
be postponed until to-morrow. I am also requested to state that the 
various levee organizations of the valley will have a meeting to-night 
in the banquet hall of the St. Charles Hotel. Pardon me—Captain 
Henry tells me that since 1 was informed of the programme the levee 
organizations have concluded that it is best to meet at 3.30 o’clock in 
one of the rooms provided here for the purpose. 

I also desire to state that through the efforts of the very able chair¬ 
man of the local committee, Hon. J. N. Luce, a number of distin¬ 
guished statesmen throughout the American Union have been heard 
from through letters and telegrams on this important subject of the 
protection of the riparian lands. Captain Bryant has just handed me 
a list, showing that he has responses from twenty-one governors, and 
that various Congressmen throughout the country have also responded, 
and prior to the adjournment of this convention to-morrow these vari¬ 
ous letters and telegrams will be presented for your consideration. 

Gentlemen, with us to-da}^ we have one of the great statesmen 
and financiers of the country; one who has indelibly impressed his 
personality and talent on the financial history of America; one who 
for a time was the trusted and honored friend, and not only so, but a 
member of the official family of one of the greatest of living American 
statesmen, Grover Cleveland. [Great applause and hurrahs.] I have 
the honor, gentlemen, to present to } r ou the honorable Mr. Fairchild, of 
the great State of New York, who will now address you. [Applause.] 

(For the address of Mr. Fairchild, see p. 95.) 

Chairman Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, the South has many 
great papers and periodicals in which it can well take a lasting pride. 
Without intending to make any invidious distinctions, I believe you 
will all agree with me in saying that among this number one stands 
prominently forth as a beacon light, one that has labored in and out 
of season for the development of this beloved Southland. That is the 
Manufacturers’ Record of the city of Baltimore, and 1 have the honor 
of introducing to you its distinguished editor, Mr. Richard H. 
Edmonds, who will now address you. [Applause.] 

(For the address of Mr. Edmonds see p. 97.) 

President Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, I observe in this 
distinguished audience a cultured scholar, whose researches have 
extended through all the fields of learning; a genial southern gentle- 


42 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


man, who has captured all hearts with which lie has come in contact; a 
powerful and adroit debater, whose keen Damascus blade has never 
known defeat; a great southerner, who is the pride of his section, as 
he is of his country; the next leader of the great Democratic party in 
the lower house of Congress—the peerless Mississippian, John Sharp 
Williams. [Great applause.] 

(For the address of Congressman Williams, see p. 105.) 

President Scott. Pretty much all sections have been heard from 
before this distinguished audience except the great and growing 
Northwest. Permit me to introduce to you Mr. George H. Maxwell, 
a distinguished gentleman from that section, who will now address 
3 7 ou on the subject of reservoirs. [Applause.] 

(For the address of Mr. Maxwell, see p. 108.) 

President Scott. One word. A great many members of this conven¬ 
tion, 1 am informed, are exceedingly anxious to leave for their homes 
to-night. We have received a number of letters and telegrams. Is 
it the pleasure of the convention that they be read now, or would the 
convention prefer to take an adjournment until to-morrow morning? 
It is entirely with you, gentlemen, and I await your pleasure. 

Mr. Percy, of Mississippi. I believe it is the pleasure of the con¬ 
vention to hear them now and get through with our business. 

Mr. J. L. Vance, of Ohio. If the secretary should read an epitome 
of the communications, will it be possible for us to close the session of 
the convention this evening? k 

Chairman Scott. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Vance. Then I suggest that that be done. 

Which motion being put, the same was unanimously carried. 

Secretary Bryant. I wish first to state, in regard to the attendance 
at this convention, that we have had actually present duty accredited 
delegates from 167 cities and municipalities in 24 States, beginning as 
far east as Massachusetts and going on through the Lake region and 
as far west as Washington and California. 

President Scott. Gentlemen of the convention, I am requested to 
state that the members of the various levee boards will meet to-night 
at 8 o’clock in the banquet hall of the St. Charles Hotel. 

Secretary Bryant then read the letters and telegrams from the fol¬ 
lowing gentlemen: 

Governors S. W. T. Lanham, Texas; A. B. White, West Virginia; 
J. M. Hickey, Nebraska; Jeff Davis, Arkansas; W. S. Durbin, Indiana; 
J. C. W. Beckham, Kentucky; Richard Yates, Illinois; C. M. Herriod, 
South Dakota; A. T. Bliss, Michigan; J. K. Toole, Montana; S. R. 
Vansant, Minnesota; A. M. Dockeiy, Missouri; S. R. Penm T packer, 
Penns}dvania; Henry McBride, Washington; J. H. Peabody, Colo¬ 
rado; J. M. Terrell, Georgia; J. B. Frazier, Tennessee; A. B. Cum¬ 
mins, Iowa. 

Senators James B. McCreary, Kentucky; Wm. J. Stone, Missouri; 
Porter J. McCumber, North Dakota; A. J. McLaurin, Mississippi; 
H. D. Money, Mississippi; Wm. P. Frye, Maine; S. B. Elkins, West 
Virginia; Geo. C. Perkins, California; W. A. Clark, Montana; Chaun- 
cey M. Depew, New York; T. C. Platt, New York; W. B. Allison, 
Iowa; M. S. Quay, Pennsylvania; J. H. Mitchell. Oregon. 

Congressmen W. M. Howard, W. G. Brantley, Georgia; C. F. Scott, 
P. P. Campbell, Kansas; J. W. Bordney, Alfred Lucking, II. L. 
Haineton, Michigan; Richard Bartholdt, W. D. Vandiver, J. T. Hunt, 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


43 


Missouri; Swayer Sherley, A. O. Stanley, Kentucky; A. F. McLain, 

E. J. Bowers, Thomas Spight, E. S. Candler, Mississppi; H. P. Goebel, 
W. W. Skides, A. H. Jackson, J. W. Cassingham, G. W. Nepp, I. S. 
Snark, C. H. Grosvenor, Ohio; Gordon Russell, A. W. Grigg, J. L. 
Slay den, W. R. Smith, Texas; R. F. Broussard, A. P. Pujo, Louisiana; 
Thomas Hedge, W. J. Wade, B. P. Birdsall, Iowa; W. O. Smith, 
James W. Brown, S. R. Dresser, J. H. Shull, H. Burt Cassett, A. L. 
Bates, Edw. Morrell, G. R. Patterson, Pennsylvania; E. F. Henson, 
North Carolina; W. L. Jones, Washington, J. N. Williamson, Oregon; 
J. J. Esee, J. H. Davidson, J. J. Jenkins, J. W. Babcock, Wisconsin; 

F. W. Mandell, Wyoming; C. R. Davis, H. Steenerson, Minnesota; 
W. S. Greene, Massachusetts; R. R. Hitt, B. F. Caldwell, W. A. Roden- 
burg, George W. Smith, Illinois; J. C. T. Robbins, J. S. Little, S. 
Brundidge, R. B. Mason, Minor Wallace, Arkansas; S. J. Bowie, G. W. 
Taylor, J. H. Bankhead, William Richardson, Alabama; L. P. Padgett, 
T. W. Sims, R. A. Pierce, J. A. Moon, Tennessee; Theo. A. Bell, 
Connecticut; F. E. Brooks, Colorado; A. L. Allen, Maine; Joseph 
Howell, Utah; Paris Gibson, Montana; N. P. Otis, New York. 

Chairman Scott. Permit me to say, gentlemen, that the success of 
this great levee convention, the greatest in the history of the Mississippi 
Valle} T , is largely due to the untiring and intelligent efforts of Hon. 
J. N. Luce, chairman of our local committee, and Mr. John M. Par¬ 
ker, of this cit} r . These efforts have been greatly assisted by the press 
throughout the country, and especially by the New Orleans press, and 
if I might be permitted to make the suggestion, I think it would be 
graceful and proper for some member of the convention to move a 
vote of thanks. 

Mr. J. N. Luce. I make one suggestion. In addition to Mr. Par¬ 
ker, I had the very able and energetic assistance of Captain Bryant 
and Mr. Lafaye on our local committee; in fact, I think a vote of 
thanks should go to the whole committee. 

Mr. J. L. Vance, of Ohio. You anticipated me by a minute or two 
in those remarks. I know our thanks are due to the gentlemen named 
by the president. He has, however, omitted himself from that list; 
and 1 now move that the thanks of the association be tendered to Pres¬ 
ident Scott, Secretary Bryant, Mr. Luce, Mr. Parker, the chairman 
of the executive committee and the chairman of the other committees 
connected with this organization, and particularly to the members of 
the press, who have so well reported our proceedings. 

Which motion being put, was carried unanimously. 

A resolution was adopted of thanks to Capt. Patrick Henry for his 
able and successful service in Washington as representative of the 
Interstate Mississippi River Improvement and Levee Association. 

A Member. I now move that we adjourn sine die. 

Mr. Vance. Before putting that motion I want to move addition¬ 
ally that the thanks of the convention be tendered to your board of 
trade, the cotton exchange, the street-railway system, and the other 
commercial and industrial bodies of this city, and the citizens general^, 
for the hospitality with which they have received us 

The motion to "adjourn being temporarily withdrawn, the motion of 
Mr. Yance was carried unanimous^. The convention then adjourned 
sine die. 


44 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


President Charles Scott’s Opening Address. 

I have ventured, my fellow-citizens, to call together this parliament 
of distinguished men in the interest of the world’s greatest valley. The 
governor of Louisiana has been prompt to supplement and sanction this 
call by his official proclamation—a broad and public-spirited act, which 
has been and is now the subject of universal commendation. It was 
justified, and more than justified, I might say, by 1 the vast and varied 
interests at stake, because at last it is generally conceded, I believe, 
that the reclamation and the protection of the alluvial lands of the 
Mississippi Valley from the' drainage waters of 32 States and Terri¬ 
tories is a matter of great national importance. 

NATIONAL SYSTEM OF MASSIVE DIKES. 

How can this be done? By whom and when? These are some of 
the momentous questions that will demand and receive your careful 
and dispassionate consideration. Speaking not for myself alone, but 
for the association over which I have the honor to preside, and voic¬ 
ing, if you please, the unalterable sentiment of millions of American 
citizens, I do not hesitate to say that this protection can come only 
from a national system of massive dikes. [Great applause.] 

This, I am aware, is a bold and pregnant statement, but it is fully 
sanctioned by the past history of levee building throughout the ages. 
Not only so—local conditions and local experience sanction and sus¬ 
tain every syllable of it as a potent and faithful verit} 7 . 

How else, pray, can the fecund fields and the giant forests of this 
imperial valley be protected from inundation ? If we may not depend 
upon the levee system for protection, upon what can we depend? I 
am fully aware of the fact that our friends, the u outletters ” (if I may 
be permitted to coin an awkward word or phrase), are always with us. 
They always have been with us, and I guess they will be to the end. - 

A SYSTEM OF OUTLETS. 

They still point with some degree of pride and confidence to a system 
of outlets as a panacea upon which we can safely rely. Their past 
exponent and great high priest in the lower valley, Capt. John Cow- 
den, was for many years, I believe, a respected resident of this city. 
An honest man, a fiery enthusiast, firmly convinced and wholly pos¬ 
sessed by his favorite theory, he, like a second Peter the Hermit, 
preached it far and wide. We can not marvel, then, if for a time it 
had some effect on Congressional and, I may say, on public sentiment. 
Why, gentlemen, in 1890, when the great levee convention met in the 
historic city^ of Vicksburg this association, you will remember, was 
organized. We then sent a delegation of some twenty or twenty-five 
prominent citizens of the valley, from Louisiana and all the other 
riparian States, on to the national capital. When they arrived there 
they found that Captain John was almost the master of the situation. 
He actually had possession of one of the committee rooms of the 
United States Senate, and his maps and charts were on the walls and 
all over the tables. But his theoiy could not bear the test of close and 
impartial investigation. It was fallacious. And my observation, 
gentlemen, has been that, sooner or later, every fraud—I do not intend 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


45 


to use that word in a disagreeable or unpleasant sense—so let us say 
every fallac} 7 in this world, when properly attacked, must fail and fall 
to the ground. It was no new theory, this of outlets. Eminent 
hydrographers had tried it long and merry ago. 

It is my pleasure to notice in this distinguished assemblage Maj. 
B. M. Harrod [applause] and other eminent engineers of international 
reputation. I am sure that they will sustain fully the statement that I 
have just made about the outlets. They will not only do that, but they 
could go further and tell you that the system of outlets had not only 
been tried, but that it had been discarded years ago by distinguished 
Italian and other hydrological engineers. We read in a treatise by the 
great Gennite about a system of outlets in connection with the river 
Adige. He tells us that they served, as they will always do in silt- 
bearing streams, to cause a. shoaling or raising of the bed of the river, 
which greatly added, as he says, to the danger of floods. So, too, the 
great Paolo Erisi did not hesitate to denounce outlets in no uncertain 
terms. They were also tried, 1 may say ad nauseum, by Vincent 
Viviani in the river Celone, only to result in filling up, or partially 
filling up, the bed of that stream; and the fact is this went to such an 
extent that the main trunk of that small but useful river was entirely 
closed. 

Going still further back, if you please, we read in one of Pliny’s 
classical letters that outlets were largely experimented with under the 
orders of the wise and humane Emperor Nerva. Again they proved 
wanting, and were finally discarded because the}^ utterly failed to pre¬ 
vent the inundation of the adjacent territory. 

TASK FOR A PRACTICAL PEOPLE. 

But we Americans are a practical people, and I imagine that some 
of you are thinking that this is all “ancient history”—that you would 
rather know something about the present authorities on the subject, 
and especially the American authorities. What about local conditions, 
and what about a system of outlets as applied to the regime of the 
great Father of Waters? Well, it has always been my observation, 
gentlemen, that like causes may lie relied upon to produce like effects— 
modified or enhanced, of course, bv the occasional peculiarities of 
environment. So it is, my fellow-citizens, if we do not to-day find a 
consensus of opinion, we do find an overwhelming preponderance of 
scientific opinion firmly and unalterabl} 7 opposed to the theory of out¬ 
lets. And wh}r? Why should these eminent gentlemen of the Mis¬ 
sissippi River Commission, who enjoy now, let me say en passant, as 
they have always enjoyed, the full confidence of the people of this 
great valley [applause]—why should they and the able and practical 
engineers in charge of these vital interests throughout the alluvial 
section be opposed to outlets? They can surely have no ulterior 
object; surely they are not wedded to the system of levees per se. 
What they want, and what you and I want, gentlemen, is perfect and 
permanent protection from inundation—nothing more and nothing 
less. We all oppose the system of outlets, then, simply because it 
does not give and it can not give the necessary protection. Utterly 
failing to relieve the congestion of waters, outlets have the opposite 
effect. They cause, or tend to cause, as was said, I believe, by Major 
Harrod in a very able paper presented not long ago to the American 


46 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


Societ} 7 of Engineers, a shoaling or filling up of the bed of the Missis : 
sippi River, just exactly, gentlemen, as Gennite tells us the}^ caused a 
shoaling }^ears ago in the bed of the Adige. 

It could not be otherwise. The Mississippi, as you well know, is 
the largest of all silt-bearing rivers. Its waters are heavity charged 
with sediment brought down by all the 4 ‘arrowy streams,” if I may 
borrow a phrase jrom a great Mississippian now passed away, the 
beloved and knightly William A. Percy [applause], as they descend 
from the mountains on either side. When this sediment finally reaches 
the main trunk of the river it is greatly supplemented by the silt from 
the caving and the erosion of the ever changing and shifting banks 
of this might}^ stream. So long as we confine the river in a single 
channel you will understand, of course, that its power is conserved 
and a uniform flow of its waters measurably maintained, except, of 
course, in isolated cases. Now, under these conditions, gentlemen, 
this great river can perform its normal functions as intended by 
Mother Nature. In other words, it can carry its burden of silt, 
imposed upon it by' an all-wise Providence, until finally it is safety 
deposited in the waters of the Gulf. Let us suppose, however, that 
any very large derivation or outlet is made, and what will be, ex neces¬ 
sitate, the effect? Don’t you see it is tantamount to dividing the river? 
You will understand, then, that you subtract thereby just as much from 
its carrying capacity. The old stream grows indignant, perhaps; at 
any rate, it becomes unable to property perform the functions that 
nature intended, and the silt instantty commences to be deposited. 
The upbuilding of the river bed will follow, and this, if continued 
from year to year, will in the long run seriously interfere with the 
navigation of the stream, and may lead to even more serious conse¬ 
quences. It might tend indeed to render the alluvial basins of the 
lower valley altogether unfit for inhabitance. This grave danger, my 
fellow citizens, warns us to let the mighty river flow on, as the great 
Lincoln said, u unfretted to the sea.” 

ORIGIN OF THE GREAT FLOODS. 

Another thing. All of you are thoroughly acquainted with the 
topography of the lower valley and know full well, therefore, that any 
important system of outlets is impracticable until you pass to the 
southward of the Red River. Where do the floods come from? They 
come from the north. The “ big waters” are usually caused by the 
simultaneous outpouring of the Ohio, the upper Mississippi, and the 
Missouri. These waters become congested in the main trunk of the 
river, and as they pass south of Cairo, the capacity of the channel 
being overcharged, they commence to spill over on either side into the 
alluvial basins. It follows, necessarily, that a vast area of alluvial 
lands would be inundated for days, a great deal of it for many days, 
before the descending floods ever approach the zone of influence of 
any system of outlets situate so far to the south. 

Now, this whole question, as my friends, Judge Blanchard and Gen¬ 
eral Catchings (both of whom are with us to-day) will tell you, 
received the attention of the National Congress some years ago. The 
Committee of Commerce of the United States Senate, then com¬ 
posed, as is nearly always the case, of some of the most eminent men 
in the nation, gave the subject exhaustive and painstaking study. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


47 


The result of their labors on this and cognate matters will be found 
embodied in am able report to the Fifty-fifth Congress, and I will ask 
you to permit me to read briefly what this committee has had to say 
on this important and interesting subject. I refer to my notes; here 
is the language of the committee: 

'Neither can }^our committee discover from the evidence or through 
other sources any material relief from the outlet system. It is not 
practicable to relieve the river by means of outlets, except below the 
Fed River. Two important outlets now exist, and have for years 
existed on this reach of the river—the Atchafalaya and Bayou 
Lafourche. A third, Bayou Plaquemine, is now closed, pending its 
preparation for reopening by means of locks and dams. But these 
outlets, or others that might be constructed on this reach of the river, 
could afford no perceptible relief for the river above, where relief is 
much more called for and needed. The St. Francis, Yazoo, White, 
and Tensas basins can get no relief from any practicable outlet system. 
And where this system exists and is feasible, there is no disposition to 
extend it or to substitute it for levee enlargement.” 

THE RESERVOIRS. 

So much, then, for the outlets. But there is another supposed plan 
of salvation generously offered to you sinners—I beg your pardon; I 
should say T you dwellers of the valley. I allude, of course, to the 
reservoir. These, like the outlets, can by no means be included in any^ 
correct list of modern innovations. The fact is that they are older 
than the days of the patriarch Joseph. We read that immense reser¬ 
voirs were constructed in China, India, and elsewhere in the Orient, 
while our European forefathers were still howling barbarians (if I am 
not too disrespectful to our distant and dear departed ancestors), 
scantily clad in furs and content to make their habitations in hollow 
trees or secluded caves. We still find traces of one of these immense 
structures, the Poolari reservoir, whose walls are said to have extended 
over 30 miles in length, and whose waters, when bank full, as some 
writers tell us, were capable of irrigating or inundating over 60 square 
miles—something almost incredible. 

No such stupendous works are attempted by^ our modern engineers. 
The very largest reservoir that has been built, so far as I know, in our 
day and generation, is the great Nile Dam at Assouan, constructed, as 
you will remember, under the auspices of the British Government at 
a cost equal to about $12,500,000 in American money. But even this 
is a small affair as compared with the ancient structures I have just 
mentioned. Still it is a noble work, in which our English cousins may 
well take pride. It was finished in 1902 and was dedicated, 1 believe, 
in December of that y^ear by the Egyptian Khedive with great pomp 
and ceremony. It will interest you, perhaps, to briefly notice some of 
its salient features. However that may be, it is proper, in order to 
bring out the point that I now desire to present for your consideration, 
that I should call your attention to its dimensions and capacity. 

You will pardon me again if I refer to my notes. I am indebted 
for these data to a very interesting and instructive article by Penfield 
that appeared not many months ago in the North American Review. 
1 quote from his article: 

• “In an official report by Earl Comer, the British diplomatic agent 
in Egypt, it has been stated that the actual cost of the Assouan dam is 


48 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


about $12,500,000, and that it will increase the earning* capacity of 
Egypt by $13,000,000 annually. The reservoir will permit the addi¬ 
tional irrigation of 1,600,000 acres, and will bring an additional reve¬ 
nue annually to the Egyptian government in taxes of $1,900,000, and 
indirectly more.” 

You will observe a little later on, gentlemen, that what our English 
friends consider to be a very good investment is a mere bagatelle as 
compared with the benefits to our nation of the reclamation of this 
great alluvial basin. [Applause.] I further quote from Mr. Pen- 
ffeld’s article: 

“The dam is straight from end to end, and is 1J miles long. Its 
thickness at its deepest part is 82 feet, tapering to 23 feet at the top, 
which is finished as a roadway. Its height from the lowest part of 
the foundation to the coping is 131 feet. The maximum ‘head’ of 
the impounded water is 65 feet, and the dam, when full, is calculated 
to contain, according to Sir Benjamin Baker, its chief engineer, 
234,300,000,000 gallons of water, weighing practically 1,000,000,000 
tons.” 

Verily, gentlemen, a marvelous and stupendous structure! But if 
we should attempt to use the great Assouan dam or one like it in any 
effort to control the turbulent waters of our great inland sea it would 
prove a mere bauble, a child’s plaything, something akin to the mud 
walls or dams that you and I constructed—shall I say only a few brief 
years ago?—in the early days of our childhood. How many dams 
equal to that at Assouan do you think would be required to have an} 7 
appreciable effect on the floods when there is a great rampage in “the 
old Mississip,” if you will pardon me for dropping, not as Mr. Wegg 
did, into poetry, but into the local vernacular? How many dams equal 
to that stupendous work would be required, I ask, to have an appre¬ 
ciable effect on one of our real “big waters”—a water, let us say, like 
that of 1897? You will be astounded and perhaps startled when I tell 
you that it would require not less than forty of them. Here are the 
figures. 

A UNITED STATES ENGINEER’S REPORT. 

These data were kindly prepared at my request by that genial gen¬ 
tleman, talented engineer, and superb officer of the United States 
Army, Capt. Charles L. Potter, who for several years was in close 
touch with important Mississippi River work. 1 can do no better 
than read you his letter. I know statistics are rather dry, but you 
will understand that we are not talking here altogether for “bun¬ 
combe,” if you will pardon the expression. These proceedings will 
be published and will go out all over the country; so Captain Potter’s 
figures in this connection would perhaps be more decisive on the 
question of reservoirs than anything I could say if I were to talk for 
an hour. Here is his letter: 

[River and harbor improvements on Lake Superior. Portage Lake ship canals. ] 

United States Engineer Office, 

Duluth , Minn ., October 6, 1903. 

Dear Sir: Answering your letter of the 28th ultimo, I would say 
that I have no records of the water in 1903, and those of the great 
flood in 1883 are probably not as reliable as those of 1897, so I have. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


49 


taken the high water of 1897 to work upon. This flood reached 51.6 
at Cairo, while that of 1883 reached 52.2, so my figures are somewhat 
small for the highest flood, that of 1883. 

You ask for the data at Cairo. The observations for discharge are 
taken at Columbus, Ky., about 21 miles below Cairo; but as no tribu¬ 
taries enter in this distance the discharge observations are practically 
good for Cairo. 

It is a point of low-gauge reading, however (the maximum for 1897 
being 45.08, while Cairo went to 51.6), so I also give you the data for 
Helena, Ark., where the gauge went to 51.75, in addition to that for 
Columbus. 

At Columbus , Ky .—The discharge for a bank-full stage was 1,303,536 
cubic feet per second, or 586,591,200 gallons per minute. 

The discharge at extreme high water (estimated from the highest 
gauge at which observations for discharge were made) was 1,675,173 
cubic feet per second, or 753,827,880 gallons per minute. 

The difference between bank-full discharge and high-water discharge 
was 371,637 cubic feet per second, or 167,236,680 gallons per minute. 

The discharge corresponding to the last foot on the gauge of the 
amount necessary to draw off to lower the flood plane 1 foot at this 
point was 128,859 cubic feet per second, or 57,986,580 gallons per 
minute. 

With a reservoir holding 234,300,000,000 gallons it would take the 
excess of the highest discharge over bank-full discharge one thousand 
four hundred and one minutes, or twenty-three hours twenty-one 
minutes, or practically one day, to fill this reservoir, i. e., one such 
reservoir would be required for each day that the gauge was at 45 
feet. 

To reduce a flood of this magnitude 1 foot would require one 
reservoir of the size mentioned for each four thousand and forty 
minutes (sixty-seven hours twenty minutes, or two days nineteen hours 
and twenty minutes; say, two and three-quarters days) of the time the 
river was at this stage. 

The hydrographs show at Columbus, Ky., for the high water of 
1897: 

Days. 


River above bank-full stage. 47 

River above 42-foot stage.*. 44 

River above 43-foot stage.. i . 39 

River above 44-foot stage. 28 

River at 45-foot stage, high water. 7 


To store the water of this flood above a bank-full stage (6,450,000,- 
000,000 gallons) would have required 28 reservoirs of the size mentioned 
above, or one reservoir 55i miles square (3,080 square miles) and 10 
feet deep. 

At Helena , Ark .—The discharge at a bank-full stage was 1,153,846 
cubic feet per second, or 519,830,700 gallons per minute. The dis¬ 
charge at extreme high water (estimated from the highest gauge at 
which observations for discharge were made) was 1,713,992 cubic feet 
per second, or 771,294,000 gallons per minute. 

The discharge corresponding to the last foot on the gauge, or the 
amount necessary to draw off in order to lower the flood plane one foot 
at this point, was 84,576 cubic feet per second, or 38,059,200 gallons 
per minute. 

S. Doc. 245, 58-2-4 







50 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


The difference between bank-full discharge and high-water discharge 
was 560,146 cubic feet per second, or 252,065,700 gallons per minute. 
With a reservoir holding 234,300,000,000 gallons it would take the 
excess of the highest discharge over bank-full discharge 932 minutes, 
or 15 hours and 32 minutes, or practically two-thirds of one da}^, to 
fill the reservoir, i, e., three such reservoirs would be required for 
each two days that the gauge was at 51f feet. To reduce a flood of 
this magnitude 1 foot would require one reservoir of the size men¬ 
tioned for each 6,156 minutes (102 hours and 36 minutes, or 4i days) 
of the time the river was at this stage. 

The h}^drographs show at Helena, Ark., for the high water of 1897: 

Days. 


River above bank-full stage. 56 

River above 45 feet.46 

River above 46 feet. 41 

River above 47 feet. 28 

River above 48 feet. 25 

River above 49 feet. 15 

River above 50 feet. 8 

River at 51f feet. 1 


But for the fact that several crevasses occurred in a short distance 
from Helena, this gauge would have gone some higher and would have 
remained near the high point much longer. 

To store the water of this flood above a bank-full stage (9,475,600,- 
000,000 gallons) would have required 40 reservoirs of the size men¬ 
tioned above, or one reservoir 67^ miles square (4,532 square miles) 
and 10 feet deep. 

It will thus be seen that to hold the flood down to bank-full stage at 
Helena would require reservoirs at some point above with a depth of 
10 feet and an area of 4,532 square miles, or 2,900,480 acres, which at 
a value of $10 per acre (it is not believed that large bodies of delta 
land could be had anything like as cheap) would cost $29,000,000 for 
the land alone. 

Holding the river down to a bank-full stage at Helena would still 
cause an overflow of a great part of the third district, as the banks are 
naturally lower, and water entering low places would overflow much 
of the land back from the river, where it is considerably lower than 
at the river banks. 

Trusting that this will give you the information you desire, 1 am, 
Very respectfully, 


Chas. L. Potter, 

Captain , Corps of Engineers, 

Mr. Chas. Scott, Eosedale , Miss. 


Now, gentlemen, suppose we assume that from an engineering- 
standpoint it is practicable to construct anywhere in the Mississippi 
Valley an immense work forty times as large as the great Nile dam, 
and suppose we further assume that this could be done at a like cost 
per cubic yard. You will observe that this would represent the gigan¬ 
tic sum of $500,000,000. Add to that the cost of the lands where this 
great structure would be situate, and we have the stupendous figure for 
a reservoir that would not give us any adequate relief of $529,000,000. 

These figures are prohibitive. It would seem, then, almost useless 
to discuss the practicability of a work of this kind from other stand¬ 
points—the great difficulty of obtaining u holding grounds,” as they 










IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 51 

are sometimes called, for a titanic work of these proportions; the long- 
period of time, year after year, that would be required for its "com¬ 
pletion; the great danger of impounding a stupendous mass of water 
weighing 40,000,000,000 tons here in our midst, a deadly and insidious 
foe, ever ready, night and day, to undermine or to break through or 
to leap over its barriers in a mad rush to the distant sea. And, 
above all, consider the grave criminality that would be involved in 
such an effort. I am sure you will all remember within the past 
month the giving aw T ay of some great reservoirs (the exact locality I 
don't remember, but it was near the Atlantic seaboard), sweeping- 
many lives out of existence and carding away millions of dollars in¬ 
vested in public and private property. 

Think what would be the result if a similar disaster should occur to 
a vast work forty times as large as the great Nile dam situated at any 
point that your imagination may suggest in the Mississippi Valley, des¬ 
tined before many years to be not only the garden spot of the nation, 
but its great center of population. The imagination recoils from such 
a heartrending picture. No, gentlemen; no! Reservoirs are impos¬ 
sible. The} 7 have been so pronounced by the eminent gentlemen of 
the Mississippi River Commission, I think. I know they have been 
so pronounced by the Committee on Commerce of the United States 
Senate, from whose report I just quoted, as well as b}^ almost every 
practical engineer of whom I have ever heard. En passant, I will say 
Mr. Haupt, the consulting engineer, of Philadelphia, who is a very 
forceful and learned writer, takes issue with me, 1 understand; but 
Mr. Haupt has never been in practical touch with the great river, 
whereas every eminent engineer that I know of who has come in per¬ 
sonal contact with the mighty forces of this majestic southern and 
western stream has pronounced the system of reservoirs utterly 
unfeasible and impossible. 

But I see in this distinguished audience some influential gentlemen 
from the golden grain fields of the great and growing North-west who 
may resent this statement. Let me say right here if they- need reser¬ 
voirs to irrigate and fructify their fields or to reclaim their arid lands, 
that is altogether a different question. In the name of that modern 
gospel, which should animate and control every progressive American 
citizen, when it commands him to cause the waste places to blossom 
like the rose and to make two blades of grass grow where there was 
only one before, let us stand shoulder to shoulder with them and help 
them to get national appropriations in the prosecution of their benefi¬ 
cent work. [Applause.] 

But when you come to any intelligent scheme for controlling this 
mighty river reservoirs will not answer the purpose. In other words, 
if you will pardon a slang expression, I will say in language more 
forceful than elegant, we have no use for reservoirs “ in our business.” 
[Applause.] 

A NATIONAL SYSTEM OF LEVEES. 

Now, then, seeing that outlets are not only impracticable, but 
harmful, and that reservoirs are impossible, can you marvel that the 
dwellers of the valley cry out as with one voice for a national system 
of levees whose impregnable walls shall extend all the way from Cairo 
to the Head of Passes * This, and this alone, it is my firm and honest 


52 IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

conviction, can give perfect and permanent protection to that vast 
area of fertile lands whose development only awaits the magic touch 
of Nature’s nobleman, the planter and farmer—he who Emerson tells 
us, as the creator, the producer, the maker of things, stands always 
“ nearest to God.” But the planter and the farmer, gentlemen, can do 
nothing until you give him protection, and the more } t ou look into the 
subject the more firmly convinced you will become that the levees 
are the new way and the old way and the only way of protecting any 
extended valiey from inundation. [Applause.] 

Here, again, we have been anticipated by those of the olden times, 
for we read that levees were in use two thousand years, and perhaps 
more, before the coming of the Christ. Did it ever occur to you (it 
does sometimes to me), in spite of what I may call the intellectual 
arrogance of the twentieth century, that, after all, “there is nothing 
new under the sun ? ” The shifting sands which have buried the glories 
of Babylon and Nineveh for centuries past hide from us, I doubt not, 
mighty engineering and other secrets we fain would know. Still other 
sands, it may be, held within their silent embrace ages before these 
proud cities reared their heads a higher civilization than has ever been 
revealed to them or to us. However this may be, history tells us in 
no uncertain tone that the great and wise Queen Semiramis, while daz¬ 
zling and fascinating the Assyrian courtiers with her majestic beauty 
and the radiant luster of her wondrous eyes, still found time to pro¬ 
tect with a perfect S 3 ^stem of dikes the homes and fields of her loyal 
subjects from the rebellious waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates, 
forever chafing within their shores. Many others have followed (as 
we all like to follow a charming lady) her laudable example. As the 
sciences and arts extended their benign influences from the Orient 
westward over the continent of Europe we find that levees were there 
used as the safer, if not the only, means for the protection of alluvial 
basins. Indeed, 1 do not now recall a stream of any great magnitude 
in any part of the world whose floods are controlled otherwise than by 
a system of dikes. This fact alone is a suggestive if not a conclusive 
one. 

Let us, in this connection, consider for a moment that veritable child 
of the rivers and the sea, the plucky and indomitable little Kingdom 
of Holland. She completed, I believe, her original system of dikes in 
1825. But we read that as late as 1833 (I am not good at figures, and 
you will pardon me while I refer to my notes) the whole of the Neth¬ 
erlands only contained 5,611,860 acres of land. By that time they had 
proved the dikes, and therefore they were extended from year to year 
until, according to the Cadastral survey of 1877, they had increased 
their area to 8,148,020 acres. In other words, this courageous and 
remarkable people, laboring under many difficulties, inhabiting a little 
kingdom which, figuratively speaking, one of these fair ladies in 
the balcony' could cover with her cambric handkerchief, had created 
and actually rescued from the sea 2,536,160 acres of land, worth 
$1,268,080,000, at a cost equal to $61,000,000 in American money. 

This is a most remarkable record, but it was not made in a day^. 
Neither was their original system of dikes the work of a day. Quite 
the contrary. It represented years of arduous toil, and during this 
period of transition our indomitable Dutch friends underwent the same 
hard experience that many of you here in this audience have under¬ 
gone when, with hipboots and high-water paraphernalia, you boldly 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


5a 


waded out in the 44 overflow” to save some stubborn old mule or 
refractory old cow from a watery grave. [Laughter and applause.] 
There were in that period from 1702 up to 1825, we are told, disastrous 
crevasses that occurred on an average of once in everv eleven years, 
carrying death and destruction throughout a large part of the Nether¬ 
lands. During all this trying ordeal the Dutch toilers had with them 
another thing which I dare say they didn’t want. They had to contend, 
just as we have had to contend, with a numerous swarm of critics and 
croakers, who sounded their discordant notes far and wide while 

Flapping from out their condor wings 

Invisible woe. 

Happily, however, the goal was at last reached. The dikes were 
built to the ultimate grade; the system was made perfect. And mark 
you, gentlemen, from that good hour in 1825 up to the present time 
Holland has been practically immune against the floods, and her 
argosies are now on every sea, while her treasures are in every land. 
Now, if you won’t say anything about it I will tell you a little secret 
as to how 1 know about these treasures. I know because some Dutch¬ 
man with an unpronounceable name has a big mortgage on one of my 
plantations [laughter], but when Uncle Sam perfects, as he intends to 
do, our system of dikes, 1 will get even by lending my Dutch friend 
some money and taking a mortgage on his [laughter and applause], 
unless, indeed, it is only a prospective plantation, still covered by the 
waters of the Zuyder Zee. [Laughter.] 

LONG STRIDES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. 

Now, gentlemen, what the Dutch have done we can do. The fact 
is, we have already done so. Perhaps that statement is. a little too 
broad, and it may be, in my enthusiasm, like the old darkey my 
friend, Ben Humphre}^, tells about, “I overspoke myself.” [Laugh¬ 
ter.] But I will leave Congressman Humphreys to tell you that 
amusing and instructive anecdote when you adjourn to mix }^our 
Mississippi River water with something decidedly more palatable. 

Meanwhile I am going to qualify my statement and bring myself 
strictly down to the facts and figures. These will show that we have 
made long strides in the right direction. The statistics which I will 
submit in a few minutes (don’t be alarmed; they are not very long) 
will demonstrate this to your satisfaction. They were kindly furnished 
at my request by the veiy able and obliging chief engineer of the 
board of Mississippi levee commissioners, Capt. C. H. West. Let 
me premise, however, by stating what is also “ancient history” to 
many of you, that prior to the enormous flood of 1882 the General 
Government had extended no assistance, financial or otherwise, in the 
construction or maintenance of our system of dikes. The first levee 
ever built in the Mississippi Valley was constructed along the front of 
this city, now the metropolis of the South, but then a mere village, 
by the great Frenchman Bienville. Thereafter the system was grad¬ 
ually extended, but it was entirely dependent upon the local organiza¬ 
tions, with the help of some of the lower riparian States. The result 
was that when we came in contact with the immense and ever memor¬ 
able flood of 1882, that hurled itself against our bulwarks like an 
invincible army, we found our levees weak and altogether ineffectual. 
Since then, however, millions of dollars have been spent in its better- 


54 IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

merit by the General Government and b} T these same local and State 
authorities, always working together in perfect harmon}^. Now, mark 
you, here is the point I want to make—the figures furnished by Cap¬ 
tain West prove that the crevasses steadily decreased in proportion as 
the levee S 3 7 stem was perfected. They show that— 

Crevasses. 


In 1882 there were.282 

In 1897. 38 

In 1903 only. 7 


Now, let us notice the mileage of levees affected by the floods: In 
1882 the floods swept away 54 miles of dikes; in 1897, 8.7 miles of 
dikes; in 1903, only 2.5 miles of levee injured. 

These figures speak eloquenth 7 —may I not say conclusively—in 
favor of the levees. They prove, as the statistics in Holland prove, 
that whenever and wherever a system of dikes is built to the ultimate 
grade, under the direction of watchful and competent engineers, it 
can be relied upon for perfect, practical, and permanent protection 
from the onslaughts of the floods. [Applause.] I grant \ 7 ou that 
here and there weak places may devolop, because no human work can 
be made absolutely and altogether perfect; we all know that; but if 
at long intervals an accident should occur the damage will be circum¬ 
scribed within very narrow limits, and when engineering methods 
improve, as they will do, it would be speedily controlled. In the 
meantime any general disaster such as that which has swept over 
parts of the alluvial basins in former years will be absolute^ 7 impos¬ 
sible. 

Now, gentlemen, this brings us to two exceedingly delicate and 
important questions. First, what will be the additional cost of bring¬ 
ing the entire line of levees up to ultimate grade? And, second, by 
whom should this expense be borne? I was informed on yesterday 
that the report of the Mississippi River Commission for the present 
year had not gone to press. I shall assume, however, that there will 
be no material change in that report from the one issued b} 7 that influ¬ 
ential and eminent body in 1902, except, of course, to add the addi¬ 
tional outlay that has been made in the betterment of the system during 
the past twelve months. According to the report made bv the Com¬ 
mission last 3 7 ear, the material then contained in the levees amounted 
in the aggregate to 167,236,540 cubic yards. They estimated that it 
would require, to bring the entire line of levees up to the ultimate 
grade, 94,054,488 additional cubic yards, which the 3 7 said would cost 
$18,810,897.60. I am unable to say, as I have not had the advantage 
of seeing this year’s report, what has been the total sum expended on 
the levees within the past twelve months. It is a large amount, I am 
sure, and I will add that the system has been vastly improved. Sup¬ 
pose, however, that we discard that from our consideration, and, in 
order to provide for every possible contingency, let us assume that it 
will cost additional^ 7 to perfect the system of dikes from Cairo to the 
Head of Passes $20,000,000. 

This, from one viewpoint, is a great sum, but if the Government 
should undertake the work the additional revenue derived directly and 
indirectly from the increased products and the increased purchasing 
power of the valley people would soon pay back the principal with an 
enormous rate of interest. However that ma 3 7 be, all are agreed that 
this work of supreme importance should be done. It must be done. 





IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RtVER. 


55 


And I will ask you, gentlemen, to determine in your wisdom who 
shall bear the expense. Upon whom devolves the sacred duty of pro¬ 
tecting the countless homes and the billions of dollars of American 
capital here invested from the aggressive waters of this mighty river? 
Can it be possible that Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the greatest of 
American statesmen, as he was undoubtedly the most versatile—can it 
be possible that he violated the Constitution of his country as he con¬ 
strued the instrument—righteously violated it in the acquisition of 
this royal domain from the French emperor that a large part of it 
might be left forever and a day in a state of nature; that its future 
inhabitants, the noble and big-hearted men and women who have now 
collected here, should be left to the mercy of the waves? Never. 
Strict constructionist as he was, Jefferson would have devised some 
plan to have saved the nation from this grievous wrong—some means 
to have given to the countiy and the world the many advantages that 
would come from the improvement of this immense territory. 

Look at this large and handsome map. The contour is not as clearly 
marked as it might have been by the red lines; still you can here see 
the vast and fertile domain which a great American orator (I believe 
it was Rufus Choate the elder) defined some years ago in his eloquent 
and impressive way as “ the imperial valley of the Mississippi.” The 
distinguished New Yorkers who have honored us with their presence 
will observe that it embraces a considerable part of their far-distant 
State. Taking that as a coign of vantage, and glancing toward the 
setting sun, you see it extends mile on mile and league on league until 
its western boundary is lost to view in the gorgeous coloring and the 
barbaric splendors of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 

Think of it, gentlemen, in all of its majestic proportions. No less 
than thirty-two States and Territories, or parts thereof, are within the 
confines of this marvelous valley. They represent an area of 1,240,050 
square miles. This is about 41 per cent (leaving out of consideration 
Alaska and the isles of the sea) of the whole area of the United States. 
These fertile lands, divided here and there by countless streams, with 
perhaps 25,000 miles of navigable waters, are owned and possessed 
by no less than 35,000,000 American people. Their forests and their 
hillsides and their valleys are in numbers as the stars of the firmament 
or the sands of the seashore. As all these forests are felled, and as 
the drainage of all these hillsides and valleys shall become improved, 
they will hurry southward the mad flow and the whirling and “the 
rushing of the mighty waters.” We can almost hear them now! They 
sound in our affrighted ears as the ocean sounds when, in the language 
of the gospel, “deep calleth unto deep with the voice of Thy water¬ 
spouts; Thy waves and Thy billows have passed over me.” 

THE DRAINAGE OF A STUPENDOUS AREA. 

Where do they go, these stupendous waters, representing the drain¬ 
age of 41 per cent of our common country ? Where do they go, I 
ask, in their onward rush to the sea? Do you realize, gentlemen, that 
eveiy single drop of water that falls or flows on or over this vast area 
must past, and does pass, by the very doors of this hospitable city ? 
Do you understand and realize that in all of its great significance^ If 
so, gentlemen, you also realize, perhaps as you never did before, 
that the profound and aggressive intellect of the New England states- 


56 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


man, James G. Blaine, struck straight to the heart of this important 
subject when he defined the Mississippi River as “ the nation’s greatest 
sewer.” [Applause.] 

Who. then, shall provide for and take care of this sewer, the nation’s 
sewer? That is the question. Upon whom devolves the sacred duty 
of doing that? Will the American people confess to a lack of human¬ 
ity—and, without intending to be harsh, I might almost say a lack of 
common decency—by permitting their sewer, the nation’s sewer, to 
overwhelm the people and the property of the lower valley? Never; 
I will not believe it. [Applause.] 

It has now been something like thirty-eight years ago since, a mere 
youth, I fought as best I could beneath the stars and bars for what I 
believed to be the right. Thank God I have never since seen the 
time or the place when I was ashamed of it or when I apologized for 
it or when I regretted it. [Great applause.] I don’t know how it 
may be with other Southerners, but as for my single self— 

In Dixie land I’ll take my stand, 

I’ll live and die in Dixie. 

[Great applause.] 

Now, 1 wouldn’t have any of our Northern friends who have honored 
us with their presence to think for a moment that they have come in 
contact with a 1903 freak—an “unreconstructed” man. Such is far 
from the case. Since the hour when the great silent captain, Ulysses 
S. Grant, said “Let there be peace,” the whole South has accepted 
with the utmost good faith the arbitrament of the sword. [Great 
applause.] And so, as it now stands, there is no man within the con¬ 
fines of our common country more willing than I, if need be, to fight 
to the last beneath the time-honored and invincible folds of Old 
Glory. [Applause.] If need be, I stand ready to help carry the Stars 
and Stripes, as I would have carried the stars and bars, to the isles of 
the sea—yea, to the uttermost parts of the earth. [Applause.] But, 
gentlemen, if I could for a moment suppose that our common country 
would be so derelict in its duty as to permanently neglect these big- 
hearted, noble, and chivalrous men and women who have cast their 
fortunes in this alluvial basin, I must say that I would no longer feel 
as I do to-day. I could no longer feel, as an American citizen should 
feel, that intense pride and love of country such as prompted the 
humblest soldier in Caesar’s legions to say “I, too. am a Roman citizen.” 

NO DANGER OF PERMANENT NEGLECT. 

But there is no danger of our being peimanently neglected b}^ the 
National Government. I am a firm believer in the ultimate triumph 
of the right. Besides, I have an abiding faith and confidence in the 
American people. I feel, then, that in good time the General Govern¬ 
ment will come to our relief. There will, no doubt, be more or less 
of opposition. There always is. Some of our Republican friends will 
vote against legislation of this sort “because its benefits would be local 
and partial.” At the same time some of our beloved Democratic 
fossils, who don’t yet know, perhaps, that General Jackson is dead, 
will oppose these same appropriations because, forsooth, they are 
altogether unconstitutional. [Laughter.] From both, gentlemen, let 
us appeal to Caesar, that is, to the great body of the American people 
through their accredited agents in the national Congress. You need 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


57 


not fear that they will he led any longer by the reactionaries and 
obstructionists. The Republicans in Congress will be under the leader¬ 
ship of broad and liberal men, and as for the Democrats, they will be 
led by that peerless parliamentarian and Mississippian, John Sharp 
Williams. [Great applause.] 

We live in a practical and utilitarian age. I expect, then, all parties 
will silently agree with Thomas Jefferson, who thought when he made 
the Louisiana purchase that if he or Congress did a good thing the 
American people had sense enough to know it and to approve of it. 
Of one thing rest assured, the country will not continue to spend mil¬ 
lions of dollars to develop the arid West unless the} 7 extend equal 
privileges to the devoted and loyal South. [Applause.] So, I say, 
the members of Congress will not follow the obstructionists. They 
will rather lend their attention to the advice and utterances of that 
great and good man and eminent American patriot, Abraham Lincoln. 
[Applause.] In his plain, straightforward, and common-sense way he 
has not only answered, but has utterly “smashed” and demolished the 
two arguments that I have alluded to, and which perhaps would be the 
most common, if not the most potent weapons in the hands of the 
opposition. I am sure you will gladly hear what Mr. Lincoln had to 
say on this subject in one of his speeches. My notes fail to designate 
the date, but that is immaterial. Lincoln had this to say—hearken 
well to his words of wisdom: 

“Now for the second portion of the message, namely, that the bur¬ 
dens of improvements would be general, while their benefits would be 
local and partial, involving an obnoxious inequality. That there is 
some degree of truth in this position I shall not den} 7 . No commer¬ 
cial object of government patronage can be so exclusively general as to 
not be of some peculiar local advantage. The Navy, as 1 understand 
it, was established and is maintained at a great annual expense, partly 
to be ready for war when war shall come, and partly also, and perhaps 
chiefly, for the protection of our commerce on the high seas. This 
latter object is, for all I can see, in principle the same as internal 
improvements. The driving of a pirate from the track of commerce 
on the broad ocean and the removing of a snag from its narrow path 
in the Mississippi River can not, I think, be distinguished in principle. 
Each is done to save life and property, and for nothing else. 

“The Navy, then, is the most general in its benefits of all this class 
of objects, and yet even the Navy is of some peculiar advantage to 
Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston beyond 
what it is to the interior towns of Illinois. The next most general 
object I can think of would be improvements on the Mississippi River 
and its tributaries. They touch thirteen States. Now, I suppose it 
will not be denied that these thirteen States are a little more interested 
in improvements on that great l iver than are the remaining seventeen. 
These instances of the Navy and the Mississippi River show clearly that 
there is something of local advantage in the most general objects. But 
the converse is also true—nothing is so local as not to be of some 
general benefit.” [Applause.] 

Mr. Lincoln also said in an address to the people of Sangamon County 
on March 9, 1832: 

“Time and experience have verified to a demonstration the public 
utility of internal improvements.” 


58 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


MAGNIFICENT ENDS TO BE ATTAINED. 

That, I think, gentlemen, is the new and the accepted and the sensible 
doctrine for both of the great parties of the country to-day. With 
these words of encouragement ringing in our ears we will confidently 
appeal to the General Government for the protection of this great 
alluvial basin. Every consideration of policy and of right would seem 
to dictate that this appeal should receive prompt and favorable response. 
This work of supreme national importance should be done for many 
controlling reasons. It should be done: 

1. Because it will facilitate the transmission and rapid delivery of 
the vast volumes of the United States mail, a matter of great import¬ 
ance, not only to the people of the valley, but to the whole nation, and 
1 might almost say to the whole civilized world. This will be brought 
about by protecting various railroads, which are otherwise subject at 
times to inundation. 

2. Because these same railroads will be needed, or may be needed, 
in time of war, for the rapid transportation of troops and military 
supplies. 

3. Because, in the long run, levees will help, as man} 7 eminent engi¬ 
neers believe and tell us, in deepening the channel of the river, thereby 
improving the navigation of this great national highway, which, with 
its dependent tributaries, will always help to regulate and cheapen 
freight rates, upon which is dependent, in part at least, the prosperity 
of millions of American farmers and other producers. 

4. Because it is the sacred duty of the nation to control and use for 
its own, so as not to damage others, this being a familiar principle of 
law and equity. In other words, it is the duty of the nation to con¬ 
trol and regulate the waters of the nation’s river, so that they will not 
endanger lives and property along its banks. 

5. Because, gentlemen of the convention, this is not only a river: it 
is something more than a river; something more, if you please, than 
God’s great highway to the sea. It is also, as Mr. Blaine has said, a 
great national sewer, upon which is dependent the drainage of some 
32 States and Territories. Common sense, common decency, and 
common humanity would seem to dictate that this drainage, some of 
it from far distant States, should not be permitted to overwhelm the 
dwellers and the property of the lower valley. 

6. Because, in reclaiming this vast area, you will give the nation a 
new territory, a new world—the Eldorado that was long sought and at 
last found by De Soto, though he knew it not. The increased products 
from this source will keep the balance of trade in our favor and will 
permanently maintain for many years our present proud preeminence 
as the largest export nation of the world, while it will give plenty and 
prosperity to the present residents of the valley and to countless 
generations yet to come. 

7. And, finally, gentlemen, discarding all reason, throwing all busi¬ 
ness and sordid considerations to the winds, we confidently appeal to 
the great loving heart of the American people, which “is in the right 
place” and which will respond generously in this, as in every other 
noble cause. But, gentlemen, I prefer, after all, to rely upon the 
justice of our claim. It is the duty of the nation to do this work, and 
therefore it will be done. The doctrine of noblesse oblige canopies 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


59 


the world. It is obligatory upon all alike who have any degree of 
power and influence. It must be obeyed by the nation, as it is obeyed 
b} r the individual citizen, and, being the duty of the nation, we can be 
sure that the appropriations will be made. This would be the case if 
no material national benefits were to follow. But, happily, in this 
case the performance of a sacred duty goes hand in hand with self- 
interest, for you may be sure when ttiese valuable lands are at last 
reclaimed they will pour their priceless treasures, a veritable shower 
of gold, into the lap of our beloved country. [Applause.] 

Let us consider for a moment in this connection the results of some¬ 
what similar, but more hazardous investments. You will remember 
that years ago when General Grant purchased Alaska he paid Russia, 
I believe, about $7,200,000 for this territory. At the time the expend¬ 
iture was savagely criticised as a reckless waste of the public funds. 
Last summer I happened to have the pleasure of meeting Alaska’s 
affable and able chief executive, Gov. John G. Brad}^. He was kind 
enough to send me his last report, and from that I gathered this 
interesting and important fact, that if we discard the output of gold 
and all other valuable metals; if we leave out of consideration the 
agricultural products, the timber exports, the fur fisheries and, indeed, 
all the other fisheries except that of salmon, it appears that the value 
of the salmon pack alone for 1902 actually exceeded the purchase price 
paid by General Grant for the entire district. [Applause.] 

Again, you will remember that we paid Spain $20,000,000 for the 
Philippines. Now, I am goingto make a remark that I am afraid will 
incur for me the censure of my distinguished friend, John Sharp 
Williams, who I notice on the platform, when I say that, so far as I 
am concerned, I am glad that the Stars and Stripes still wave over the 
Philippines. [Great applause.] And it will continue to wave, my 
fellow-citizens, ‘Hong after you and I, like specks of moving cloud, 
shall have faded into the infinite azure of the past.” [Applause.] The 
present generation shall not have passed away when it will be gener¬ 
ally recognized and universally admitted that the original purchase 
price, with all the superadded expenses, are mere bagatelles as com¬ 
pared with the benefits to be derived. I wouldn’t have said this, per¬ 
haps, a few months ago after just coming under the spell of the most 
forceful, eloquent, and persuasive article that it has ever been my 
good fortune to read on this subject^ the powerful argument delivered 
before the National Congress by Mr. Williams. Then I felt like say¬ 
ing to him, as Agrippa to Paul: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a 
Christian.” [Applause.] But, gentlemen, if the retention of the 
Philippines should do no other thing, it would repay the nation a hun¬ 
dredfold for all of its outlay by forcing the early building and com¬ 
pletion of an isthmian canal. [Applause.] This will infuse new life¬ 
blood into the whole country, and will be a particular benefit to our 
beloved Southland. As to this great metropolis of the South, whose 
delightful hospitality we now enjoy, and which makes us almost feel, 
like the lotus-eaters, that here we would like to abide forever, the 
isthmian canal will make its capital increase to an incalculable amount, 
and there is no reason why, ten years hence, its population should not 
be a million of souls. [Applause.] 

My point is that if we can make these wise expenditures away up 
near the-Arctic circle and in the far-off isles of the sea, why should 
not the nation improve its own? Why should the Government hesi- 


60 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


tate to develop this country, which, as someone remarked to me on 
yesterday (1 believe it was Mr. Tompkins), is in fact, as in shape, the 
heart of the nation? You can almost see it throb with joyous exulta¬ 
tion at these developments that are to follow. Why should we hesitate 
at this, when every child knows that the undeveloped wealth here will 
exceed the combined wealth of Alaska and the Philippines multiplied 
time and time again ? [Applause.] 

I believe there are something over 19,000,000 acres of land in this 
alluvial valley, of which perhaps less than one-third are now under 
the plow. The ultimate additional value of all this property should 
equal, if it does not exceed, the value of somewhat similar lands on or 
near the banks of the Zuyder Zee. Why, think of it! This alone 
would add to the wealth of the country $9,000,000,000. This new ter¬ 
ritory would not be gained by the wiies of diplomacy, nor by war, a 
bloody trophy and a lasting evidence of man’s inhumanity to man. It 
could be won in the prosecution of a great work from the waters of 
this mighty river. The increased annual value of its products alone 
}mu could safely figure at not less than $550,000,000. Add to this, as 
I have said on another occasion, the increased manufacturing and other 
urban values, and we would give the nation a royal prize before which 
the vaunted treasures of Ormus and of Ind must forever pale their 
ineffectual fires. [Applause.] 

Gentlemen, every consideration of policy and right calls the nation 
to the accomplishment of this noble work. Mark you, it will be done; 
for, say what }mu will, the American Congress always represents the 
highest type and standard of American citizenship, and the people of 
the Valley can confidently rely upon its wisdom and justice. [Great 
applause.] 

Hopes of Valley People Revived by the Government. 

[By Hon. W. W. Heard, governor of Louisiana.] 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: In behalf of all the people of Louis¬ 
iana, who will observe with eager attention all the proceedings of this 
truly national assembly, I welcome you with all my heart to our great 
Commonwealth and to this world-renowned metropolis. You have 
come from many States—from a domain so vast in extent and so limit¬ 
less in its natural wealth and resources that they would constitute an 
empire so powerful that the proudest nations of the earth would do it 
homage upon terms of perfect equality. Yet these possessions are but 
a part—great, it is true—of the greatest republic and the greatest 
government in the family of nations. 

Considering these incontrovertible facts, it would seem as if it 
would be but a plain public duty for this colossal Government of ours 
to adopt the requisite course and to devote the required means to 
place this vast domain through which flows the Mississippi and its 
tributaries in such a condition as to allow a tide of population to 
occupy its waste places, and, in unison with its actual population, 
bring forth for their own benefit and for the enrichment of all the 
countiy the enormous wealth that this imperial domain possesses to a 
large extent in a dormant state. 

We can not but pause to admire the broad and enlightened states¬ 
manship—calculating, if you will—of old England in capturing and 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


61 


operating the Suez Canal and in the very recent past in investing 
scores of millions in the damming of the old Nile. 

Is it not bewildering, then, when we come to think of the parsimony 
exhibited bv a chain of Congresses in the appropriations that they 
have made toward the improvement of waterways and the protection 
of territory, before which the Nile and the country of Eg}^pt would 
dwindle into comparative insignificance? 

Can we admit that in this respect these Congresses have done justice 
to the business acumen and enterprising spirit of the American people? 

Therefore it will be the mission of this representative convention to 
so vividly and intelligently 1 exhibit before the country the magnitude 
of the interests involved in the questions over which you will deliber¬ 
ate that the coming Congress and the succeeding ones will deal with 
those interests in the way that so progressing and progressive a 
country as ours should deal. 

The following, which is taken from a memorandum furnished me 
by the State board of engineers, will doubtless aid you in your delib¬ 
erations and conclusions: 

The delta of the Mississippi River subject to overflow extends from 
Cape Girardeau, 45 miles above Cairo, to the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 
600 miles in an air line, and varies in width from 20 to 30 miles, 
amounting in area to 29,790 square miles. 

The Mississippi River, which flows through this delta, carries the 
drainage of 1,240,050 square miles, which is 41 per cent of the total 
area of the United States. This area drained extends from the Rockies 
to the Alleghenies and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. It covers 
1,800 miles in longitude and 1,500 miles in latitude. It drains 10 entire 
States, parts of 22 other States and Territories, besides a part of two 
provinces in Canada. 

The States entirely draining to the Mississippi River are Nebraska, 
Kansas, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, 
Kentucky, Iowa, and Illinois. The States draining in part to the 
Mississippi River are Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyom¬ 
ing, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, 
Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minne¬ 
sota. The area thus drained by the Mississippi River is as great as 
the combined area of Austria, Germany, France, Holland, Italy, Spain, 
Portugal, and Great Britain. 

Thousands of miles of streams and rivers carry this drainage to the 
Mississippi River, and of these 15,000 miles are navigable streams. 

The average rainfall carried annually to the sea by the Mississippi 
River amounts approximately to 85,000,000,000 cubic feet, or 155 cubic 
miles of water, and this is estimated as being only 25 per cent of the 
total rainfull over the basin, the remaining 75 per cent being lost either 
by evaporation or else by absorption and percolation through the 
ground. 

Every year as the country becomes more open, better tilled, and 
therefore better drained, the volume of water finding its way to the 
Mississippi River increases and also reaches the river more rapidly, 
owing to the improved condition of drainage throughout the country, 
thereby swelling and increasing the intensity of the floods. 

The damage is made greater from the fact that the lands of alluvial 
formation are highest at the banks of the stream. On the Mississippi 


62 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


River these banks slope away from the river at the rate of from 3 to 12 
feet in the first mile, then at a diminishing rate until a distance of 2 
or 3 miles from the river is attained, when the low level swamp is 
reached. 

Between Memphis and Vicksburg to the east of the river is the rich 
Yazoo basin, subject to overflow and embracing 6,648 square miles. 
Between Helena, Ark., and Arkansas City on the west of the river is 
the White River basin, subject to overflow and embracing 956 square 
miles. From Arkansas City to the Gulf, to the west of the river, are 
the Tensas, Atchafalaj^a, and Lafourche basins, all highly populated 
and thoroughly cultivated for cotton and sugar, which are subject to 
overflow, and which embrace 13,064 square miles. Finally, to the 
• east of the river, from Baton Rouge, La., to the Gulf, are situated the 
rich Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne basins, within which is the city 
of New Orleans, all of which is subject to overflow, and covers 2,001 
square miles. 

These basins are the richest alluvial land, and have been rabidly 
opening to cultivation. On the lower river, from the Louisiana State 
line to the Gulf, they have been settled for about 150 years. They 
yield rich crops of cotton and sugar, yielding more in dollars and cents 
per acre than any other lands in the United States. They frequently 
give us as much as a bale and one-half of cotton to the acre, which 
represents a value of $75, while the sugar yield is even greater. 
Hence, the people have taxed themselves to the limit to keep away 
from their fields and homes the flood water due to the drainage of 41 
per cent of the United States. 

In order to do this the people have subdivided the vast territory 
just mentioned into some twenty levee districts, organized under the 
various State laws, and operated by boards of commissioners generally 
appointed by the governors of the various States, although some of 
them are elected. 

These boards have by law the power of levying and collecting taxes 
to build levees, and this taxation takes all manner of forms to bring as 
large a revenue as possible. All the districts have an ad valorem tax on 
the assessed value of the property within their boundaries, varying from 
5 to 16 mills on the dollar. Additionally they tax themselves from 2-J- 
to 5 cents on each acre of land in the district. Also they levy a rail¬ 
road tax varying from $5 to $100 per mile. Most of the districts tax 
every bale of cotton raised within their confines from 25 cents to $1. 
Every thousand pounds of sugar raised within their territory is taxed 
from 25 to 50 cents. Every sack of rice, barrel of potatoes, or of 
onions or oranges is taxed from 3 to 10 cents; in fact, all of the pro¬ 
duce is taxed, and even the oysters do not escape it, as they are taxed 
a certain sum per barrel, on the ground that the exclusion of fresh 
Mississippi water from their beds is conducive to their health, and 
therefore to their quality. 

In addition to this, these levee boards have issued large amounts of 
bonds, predicated on their revenues, and additionally the State of 
Louisiana imposes a tax of 1 mill for levee purposes on all of the 
State’s assessments, whether they be hill property above overflow or 
bottom lands subject to overflow. The tax in the several levee dis¬ 
tricts in this State is very heavy, amounting in most of them to li per 
cent. Besides the $6,655,200 of bonds already applied to levee work 
in the Mississippi Valley, the districts derive from taxation $1,960,000 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


63 


annually. . Of this, it is safe to say that $1,500,000 is actually 
expended in earth work, the balance being devoted to the payment of 
interest on bonds issued and the cost of administration and operation. 

Prior to 1882 the United States Government contributed nothing to 
levee protection. After the great Hood in 1882 the Mississippi River 
Commission spent some money on levee building under the theory 
that in order to obtain and maintain deep-water navigation a confine¬ 
ment of the waters within the banks was necessary. For many years 
following the amount spent by the Government on levees was limited 
to such stretches as were deemed by the Mississippi River Commission 
as falling under the above consideration. No money, however, would 
be spent for the express purpose of affording protection from overflow^''" 

Four or five years ago Congress removed this objectionable clause 
from the rivers and harbors bill and allowed the river commission to 
spend such money out of the appropriation for the purpose of giving 
protection from overflow as it deemed expedient. In accordance with 
this policy the river commission has allotted approximately $1,000,000 
per annum to levee building. This amount is effective, less the sum 
to be deducted for the cost of administration, which is about 5 per 
cent, leaving about $950,000 to be expended for earthwork. 

The help of the Federal Government has revived the hopes of the 
residents of the valley, who have been reduced to despair by the great 
overflows of 1882, 1884, and 1890, and although the great flood waves 
of 1892, 1893, 1897, and 1903 have broken the records of the past, and 
their successive records culminated in the great flood of this year, the 
amount of territory overflowed this year from breaks in the levees is 
only 10.7 per cent of the area of the valley. Hence the alluvial resi¬ 
dents are taking new heart and are straining every effort to build their 
levees higher and stronger. 

The efforts thus shown evidence the magnitude of the work done 
for the effective control of the great river and its tributaries under the 
only system that could be carried on with the meager means at hand. 
These means, drawn in greater part from the property owners whose 
all is at the mercy of the waters descending upon them from the upper 
country impose burdens upon them that the National Government 
should not permit them to stagger under, since it and the commerce 
and industries of the country would be the principal beneficiaries from 
the protection that it would extend to these magnificent lowlands. 

Navigation and the protection of these lowlands could be vastly pro¬ 
moted by some plan designed to deflect the flood waters of some of its 
tributaries for the irrigation of the arid lands of the Rocky Mountain 
region, the Territories and the Texas Panhandle. 

Surely American engineering skill, which has accomplished so much 
in this country and abroad, should be capable of devising a system of 
works combining all of these purposes. The success of such a system 
would have marvelous results, and while the Government should be 
appealed to for appropriations adequate to afford ample protection 
under the actual plans, it will not be inexpedient for this convention to 
give consideration to this subject, in which so many States and Terri¬ 
tories would have a large interest. The subject is not a new one, and 
it has already received a thoughtful and favorable consideration from 
civic bodies wielding considerable influence upon public opinion and 
Congress. 


64 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


1 trust, gentlemen, that you will not proceed with too much haste 
in your deliberations, for much is expected from the talent, the knowl¬ 
edge, and the patriotism which are assembled in this great cenvention. 

You are welcome, thrice welcome, to our splendid metropolis, and I 
want to assure you that this welcome will endure as long as you may 
wish to remain within its limits. You are at home here, Mr. President 
and members of the convention. [Great applause.] 

Water the Cheapest Way to Market. 

[By Mr. J. L. Vance, of Ohio, President of the Ohio Valley Improvement Association.] 

Mr. President and gentlemen of the convention: I intended to second 
the nomination of our distinguished chairman, Governor Stanard. I 
am glad now that I didn’t do it, because, while I have listened care¬ 
fully to-day to all the remarks that have been made, and with much 
pleasure to the statistics given in regard to this great valley, it yet 
remained for you, Mr. Chairman, to speak for the first time of the 
greatest tributary of the Mississippi, the mighty Ohio. [Applause.] 

I ask your indulgence, and the indulgence of the convention, for 
but a few minutes. I understand that we have now reached the point 
where the real business of the convention begins. I am here in some¬ 
what of a dual capacity. Under the commission of the governor of 
Ohio, I represent that State upon the floor of this convention. [Ap¬ 
plause.] By the unanimous vote of the Ohio Valley Improvement 
Association, together with my distinguished friend, Captain Ellison, 
who is the secretary of that bod} r and the president of the Cincinnati 
Chamber of Commerce, I have the honor to represent that association, 
with its 15,000,000 constituents. [Applause.] We are here to repre¬ 
sent and to speak for that organization in all of its ramifications in all 
its fourteen States, beginning away up at Cattaraugus, in the State of 
New York. And here I want to object for one moment to a few words 
of the distinguished chairman. Sir, there are no longer any northern 
waters, or southern waters, or western waters, or eastern waters; they 
belong to us; they are our waters; they are the free channels of com¬ 
merce of all the people of our country. [Great applause.] 

The Gulf of Mexico should become the harbor of the United States, 
and, to use the exact language that I used at one time before, the 
Ohio and other tributaries of the Mississippi River should become the 
cheapest channel leading to it, and all the ships of the world should 
come to this imperial city of New Orleans to load or unload their 
wealth of cargoes. [Applause.] 

I will detain you but a few minutes longer. [Cries of “ Go ahead!”] 
I said a moment ago that I was here in a dual capacity. When I was 
first notified by your distinguished secretary—and you will permit me 
to-day to pay him the compliment of saying that the interests of the 
city of New Orleans and the interests of the Mississippi Valley are 
well taken care of by Captain Bryant [applause]—when I was first 
notified by him of this convention it was my understanding that it was 
to be but a one-day meeting. I now learn that the time has been 
lengthened to three days. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, if you do 
your work well it will take you two days, anj^how, and you will have 
to lap over to the third day to listen to some of your "distinguished 
citizens. [Laughter and applause. ] 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


65 


Now, gentlemen of the convention, I don’t know just exactly where 
I am “at.” I have listened to all of these gentlemen to-day, and your 
chairman is the onH one who has mentioned the Ohio River. I don’t 
know what my distinguished friend on the right, Mr. Anderson, one 
of the leading and most able citizens of Pittsburg, who comes to your 
convention from a distance farther than anybody else here; I don’t 
know what my friends upon the left—I don’t know what part they 
are to take in this convention. We are all here for business. Gov¬ 
ernor Stanard has said that St. Louis and that section want your help. 
Well, we want your help, too [applause], and let me tell you, gentle¬ 
men, that you need and must have our help to enable you to succeed. 
[Laughter and applause.] And when you join the forces of these 
twent}-seven States together, and bring their members of Congress, 
both in the House and in the Senate, forward as one man for the 
improvement of our inland waterways, all the power that the politi¬ 
cians can array against us can not prevail. [Great applause.] 

At the head of the great Ohio River, 2,000 miles from where we stand 
to-day, is the greatest manufacturing center in the world. Why, they 
make there, for shipment to the markets of the world, 100,000,000 
tons of freight per year. This must go to these markets, and the 
cheapest way to do it is by water. Improve the Ohio, and fix up the 
Mississippi River until it is navigable from Cairo down, and }^ou will 
see the great mass of tonnage of Pittsburg coming to the city of New 
Orleans, seeking through its gates the markets of the world. [Great 
applause.] All along that river are gigantic manufacturing interests— 
the greatest in this country, their products seeking also the markets 
of the world—and thej^ must come down the Ohio. Imagine for a 
moment, my friends of New Orleans and the Mississippi Valley, that 
you could pull out the fires from under the furnaces in the Ohio 
Valley; that you could stop the smoke ascending to heaven from 
those immense chimneys; that you could call forth the miner from the 
mines and stop the production of coal and iron and steel, and all the 
other great products of that richest of all valleys given our country by 
the Creator—did you ever realize, if these things should come to pass, 
that you would not see the smoke of a steamboat except your local 
packets upon the bends along the Mississippi River, and that your 
commerce would dwindle until it became imperceptible? [Applause.] 
Did you ever realize further, that that Ohio Valley produces more 
tonnage than the whole Mississippi Valley combined outside of it? 
[Applause.] Did you ever realize that more passengers are carried 
upon the Ohio River than upon the Mississippi and all its other 
tributaries ? 

I have just one or two other little things to say. I have always 
believed in the future of this great Mississippi Valley of ours. I know 
that its wealth is inexhaustible. I know that it is the duty of the Gov¬ 
ernment to help along the improvement of this river, and to-day the 
question (here I differ with all the speakers who have preceded me) is 
not a local question; it is not a national question; it is an international 
question. [Applause.] The sooner you realize that, the sooner you 
adopt and act upon that fact, just that much quicker will you accom¬ 
plish what you came here to do. [Applause.] 

When the Ohio River is improved, and the Mississippi River is 
improved, the city of New Orleans will take on new life and will 
become the greatest export town in America. [Applause.] I am not 

S. Doc. 245, 58-2-5 


66 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


speaking idly when I make that assertion. It is a fact indisputable 
that trade follows the cheapest line of transportation. The great coal 
mines, the iron and steel works, and all other industries that employ 
capital and labor in the Ohio Valley, and those upon the banks of its 
tributaries, beginning with the Monongahela and on down to the 
Wabash, stand ready to-day to ship their coal, their structural iron 
and steel, and all other heavy freights the}^ have to New Orleans for 
transshipment to the markets of the world. [Applause.] By you and 
by those who act under your guidance a great duty is to be performed. 
I trust it will be performed in a spirit of fairness to all sections. 



►lause.] 


The president of your convention this morning took occasion to refer 
to the war. While he was speaking I recalled the fact that I was 
stopped at Vicksburg on my way down the Mississippi River forty 
years ago. [Laughter and applause.] I remember that one of my 
friends on the other side of the fence (I don’t know who he was) gave 
me a reminder that has been ivith me ever since, and that I can’t get rid 
of. [Laughter and applause.] But that man, and all the other men 
who were just across the border holding that chy with almost 
unparalleled heroism, found on the outside of their gates an equally 
heroic people, and after the battle was lost, the victory won, and peace 
declared, then, thank God, they became brothers again. [Great 
applause.] United as we are to-day, we can not only sweep off the 
armies of the world, but we can control that which is of much greater 
benefit—the markets of the world. [Applause.] Our products will 
find their way down the Ohio and down the Mississippi to New 
Orleans, and from there to all the ports of the world. Mr. Chairman, 
and gentlemen, I think you very much. [Applause.] 


The Mississippi the Property of the Nation. 


[By Hon. N. C. Blanchard, of Louisiana.] 


Mr. President and gentlemen of the convention: This is a great 
country of ours. It has the largest rivers, the greatest lakes, and the 
longest line of seacoast of any country on the face of the globe. It is 
too great, and grand, and glorious for any sectional spirit longer to be 
tolerated. Away back in the early part of our country’s history, when 
President Jefferson negotiated the purchase of that vast territory 
extending from the Gulf of Mexico on the south to the Pacific Ocean 
and the British possessions on the far northwest, the principal induce¬ 
ment actuating him was that the United States of America might come 
into the control of that vast system of waterways composed of the 
Mississippi River and its tributaries. That country, including the 
Mississippi River, was purchased out of the common treasury. The 
Mississippi River, therefore, is doubly the property of the Federal 
Union. [Applause.] It is its property, not only by reason of the fact 
that we acquired it by treaty with France, but we acquired it as a piece 
of property by purchase out of the Treasury. 

If the Mississippi River be the property of the Federal Govern¬ 
ment, if the Government’s ownership and jurisdiction over it is para¬ 
mount, which no one denies, then there results to the Government a 
corresponding responsibility with respect to that river. [Applause.] 
The principle upon which such responsibility rests is embodied in that 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


67 


salutary maxim of the civil war, sic utere tuo non alienum laedas. 
The Government of the United States, owning the river as it does, 
has no right to permit the river to remain a terror and to become a 
demon of destruction to those who live in its lower valley. [Applause.] 

It took many years of effort on the part of devoted men to hammer 
that idea into Congress and to develop favorable opinion on that line 
among the people of the American Union. This great convention, 
fellow-citizens, sits here to-night, the representatives of a large por¬ 
tion of the sovereign power that is vested in the American people. 
You are here to make known your wishes to Congress, and let me tell 
you that when you speak, when any considerable portion of the Amer¬ 
ican people speak, and when Congress knows that public opinion is 
aroused demanding that certain things be done, those who compose 
the National Legislature at Washington will not only hear, but they 
will heed. [Applause.] I know whereof I speak, because I was there 
for many years. The ear of Senators and Congressmen is close to the 
ground, listening to the tramp of public opinion and to ascertain which 
way it is moving on any great question. [Applause.] v 

Fellow-citizens, we are here to-night to insist upon Congress going 
} r et further than Congress has ever yet gone in the direction of the 
recognition of its twofold duty to the great river. But while we are 
here to-night in this convention to insist that Congress take charge of 
the river entirely to prevent its floods, I am here to tell you that Con¬ 
gress in the past has not been illiberal; that much has been accom¬ 
plished, and from that I argue that Congress will continue to be liberal, 
and that this other last and final step in the control of the river, which 
this convention is here to demand, will }^et be taken by Congress in 
the near future. [Applause.] 

Fellow-citizens, the struggle to impress upon Congress its duty in 
respect to the Mississippi River has been a long and memorable one. 
When the war closed there were no levees upon the Mississippi River 
except a few disconnected or unconnected lines, and this vast alluvial 
valley was the plaything of the floods of the Father of Waters. When 
the people of the South came into their own again (by which I mean 
when the government of the Southern States passed into the hands of 
the intelligent and property-holding classes), Representatives and Sena¬ 
tors of those classes were sent to Washington, and they took up the fight 
for the river, not only to improve its navigation, with respect to which 
no one doubted the constitutional power of Congress to deal, but also 
on the proposition that it was the duty of Congress to assist in con¬ 
trolling the flood waters of the river, and that there was abundant 
justification or authority in the fundamental law for that, as well as 
there was for the improvement of the navigation of the river. 
[Applause.] 

That distinguished son of Louisiana of whom your chairman has 
spoken, Senator Randall L. Gibson, and others with him in Congress 
at that time, among them Col. E. W. Robertson, of the Baton Rouge 
district, began the work for the river and for the valley, and in 1879 
a bill was passed creating the Mississippi River Commission. All the 
great rivers of Europe had been improved in that way, namely, com¬ 
missioners had been appointed to study their phenomena and to devise 
plans for their rectification and improvement, and for the protection 
of their valleys from floods. As your chairman told you to-day, levee 
construction as a means of preventing inundation is of most ancient 


68 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


origin. Not only did the Ass^yrian Queen of whom he spoke cause 
dikes to be constructed to prevent the great Euphrates from over¬ 
flowing its lowlands, but Nitocris, who succeeded her, paved the banks 
of that river with burnt brick in order to prevent the erosion of its 
channel by the current. So that levee construction and bank protec¬ 
tion both date back to a very remote period. Many of the rivers of 
Europe, all of those of alluvial formation, have been leveed, such as 
the Po and the Rhine and the Vistula and the Arno and the Meuse and 
the Scheldt. We think we have extensive levees upon the Mississippi 
River, and so we have; but let me tell you that upon the Vistula in 
Europe some of the levees are 20 feet high and 20 feet broad at the 
top. 

Now, the Mississippi River Commission, which was created in 1879, 
was given in charge the dut\^ of not only devising schemes for the 
improvement of the navigation of the river, but also of devising plans 
and reporting to Congress what, in their judgment, was necessary to 
prevent the floods of the river. It was the first recognition by Con¬ 
gress that Congress had anything to do with the question of protecting 
the lowlands from inundation. But after the bill was passed creating 
the commission, it was not until 1881 that the first appropriation was 
made for the river, and it was so hampered that but little of it could 
be expended for levee construction. Then followed the bill of 1882. 
I was there, for I had entered Congress in 1881. That bill carried an 
appropriation of more than $4,000,000 for the river, but it contained 
the restriction that none of the money should be expended for levee 
construction except where, in the judgment of the commission, levee 
construction on the banks was a necessary adjunct to channel improve¬ 
ment. It was all for channel improvement, to benefit navigation, 
trade and commerce, but not one dollar in recognition of that other 
duty that Congress owed to the valley, namely, to assist in holding 
back the angry waters of the great river. And so on, down to 1892, 
every rivers and harbors bill that carried intermittent appropriations 
for the river contained always that fatal clause: 44 Provided , That no 
part of this money shall be used for the purpose of preventing inunda¬ 
tions of the river except where, in the judgment of the commission, 
levee construction upon the bank is a necessary adjunct to channel 
improvement.” 

Now, those of us in Congress who took up this question earty (and 
I was one of those; I became a member of the Rivers and Harbors 
Committee in 1884, my friend, General Catchings, coming in two or 
three years later and joining me on that committee), made the fight in 
season and out of season, making speeches }^ear in and year out, ham¬ 
mering, I repeat, into the heads of Congressmen that the Government 
owed another duty to the river beyond improving its navigation, and 
seeking by our speeches to develop a sentiment in the country outside 
of Congress in favor of that idea. For ten years I myself made 
speeches of that character, and other gentlemen from Louisiana and 
some from Mississippi and Arkansas did the same, and it took us many 
years, or, from the time that the Mississippi River Commission was 
created in 1879, thirteen j^ears, to reach the consummation of our 
hopes when we could write into the rivers and harbors bill an appro¬ 
priation for the great river which did not contain that restrictive clause. 
And how did we accomplish it, fellow-citizens? The great levee con¬ 
vention of 1890, of which your distinguished chairman spoke, greatly 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


69 


assisted in the work. Let me tell you right here that the lower House 
of Congress is a most difficult arena to make headway in on any 
proposition involving a great outlay of public money, and that it took 
something more than resolutions of a convention or the development 
of sentiment in one particular section of the country to attain the end 
we had in view. In 1891 (I had then been nine years a member of the 
Rivers and Harbors Committee, and its chairman) I made a trip from 
Buffalo to Duluth, through the Great Lakes and down the western 
shore of Lake Michigan. 

I am not telling this to you with any purpose of exploiting my own 
deeds, but to show you in a practical way how results are reached in 
Congress. We are here for a practical purpose. We are here to se¬ 
cure from Congress the passage of acts that will commit the Federal 
Government absolutely to the control of the great river. Now, all leg¬ 
islation, and especially all important legislation, at best is but a com¬ 
promise. There are great interests in this country that need legislation 
as well as we need it for the lower river, and those of us in Congress 
from the lower river recognized that, and we knew that if we could 
form an alliance between the lower Mississippi River States and the 
States bordering on the Great Lakes that we could absolutely control 
river and harbor sentiment in Congress and dictate the action of Con¬ 
gress in respect to the same. That was the purpose of myself and 
others in passing through the Great Lakes, stopping at important points 
and making speeches, preaching to those people the doctrine of a reci¬ 
procity of interests between the Lake States and the lower Mississippi 
River States. And the people up there were ripe for that doctrine. They 
received it with open arms. They had great lake channels to improve. 
They had great lake ports to deepen. Wh}-, the great lock and dam at the 
Sault Ste. Marie alone cost $5,000,000, and it was yet in an incomplete 
state. Millions of dollars were needed for the lake ports and channels 
and harbors, and we needed millions for the lower Mississippi River. So 
a combination, if you will (and I speak plainly), was hatched on that 
trip, and when Congress met in December, 1891, the details of that 
combination were worked out in the committee room of the River and 
Harbor Committee, and when, in the early part of 1892,1 reported the 
rivers and harbors bill of that year, it astonished the country. Why? 
Because, while it carried only $20,000,000, it authorized the expendi¬ 
ture of $2'7,0o0,000 more under the continuous-work or contract sys¬ 
tem, and among the projects that were so included in the continuous- 
work system, authorizing the Secretary of War to make contracts, the 
idea being to have continuous work to reach the desired results, there 
was written in the bill, for the Mississippi River, $16,000,000, to be ex- 

f ended in four years’ time, $10,000,000 from Cairo to the Gulf, and 
6,000,000 above Cairo. [Applause.] 

Then, for the first time in the history of the Government, the appro . 
priation for the lower river was made without any restriction whatever. 
It was boldly proclaimed upon the floor of Congress, I making the 
opening speech, that this was a levee bill pure and simple. It meant 
not only money to continue the works needed for the improvement of 
the navigation* of the river, but it meant authorizing the Mississippi 
River Commission to expend every dollar of the appropriation if they 
saw fit for the protection of the valley of the river from inundation. 
[Great applause.] 


70 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


When that bill went to the senate it passed in that shape. Why? 
Because the combination that had been made included two-thirds of 
both houses of Congress, and we had votes, if need be, to pass it over 
the President’s veto. But he let it become a law without his signature. 

Now, fellow-citizens, what followed that? The Mississippi River 
Commission met at its office in New York, and Senators White and 
Gibson of this State, Representative Catchings of Mississippi, and 
m} T self were there. 

We made speeches before the Commission, and as the author of the 
bill, having written the Mississippi River clause with my own hand, I 
could tell the Commission that it was a levee bill; that such was the 
purpose of Congress in enacting it; that the intention of its enactment 
had been boldly proclaimed on the floor of both Houses of Congress; 
that it was a new policy of the Government in respect to the great 
river. And the Commission allotted $6,000,000 of the $10,000,000 for 
levee construction pure and simple to prevent floods. That money was 
expended in four years under the contract system, and at the end 
of that time another great bill was passed, cast on the same lines, 
and using the same phraseology, appropriating $9,000,000 for the 
river from Cairo to the Gulf. So that, fellow-citizens, in two bills 
$19,000,000 were appropriated by Congress and used in greater part for 
levee construction and repair, and in part as a result of those two 
bills we have to-day long lines of levees protecting the alluvial valley 
of the Mississippi River, constituting the finest levee s} 7 stem ever 
known in any age on any river, and on every mile of it is the stamp 
of the Federal Government. [Great applause.] 

You will now see that much has been accomplished. It will not do 
to say that Congress has not risen measurably to the discharge of its 
duty in respect to the river. It has, but it has not gone far enough, 
and we are here to-night to ask that it go farther. While I am on my 
feet I wish to do justice to some of the Senators and Representatives 
in the Congress of the United States from that section of the country 
which is most remote from the great river. It has not been a sectional 
struggle. We have had ail from sources that derived no direct benefit 
from what was done on the river, and I want right now to say, from 
an experience of sixteen years in the two Houses of Congress, that the 
Mississippi River owes a debt of gratitude to the distinguished gentle¬ 
man from the State of Maine who presides over the Commerce Com¬ 
mittee of the Senate, Senator William P. Frye. [Applause.] I can’t 
mention all those who stood with us, but I recall that we always had 
the aid of Senator Matthew Quay, of Pennsylvania [applause]; we had 
the aid of Senator McMillan, of Michigan, and we had the aid of 
many distinguished Senators and Representatives other than those I 
have named. And I want to sa} 7 to my friend from Ohio who spoke 
here to-day, and to his friend to whom he referred as from the valley 
of the Monongahela River, that while we were taking care of the 
Great Lakes and the lower Mississippi and the upper Mississippi in 
the great bill of 1892 and the one that followed it we took care of every 
other section of the country, and especialh 7 did we always take care of 
the Ohio River, for which he so eloquently spoke. I want to say to 
that gentleman that while I was chairman of the River and Harbor 
Committee I visited the Ohio River and stood at the great Davis Island 
Dam, a few miles below the junction of the Allegheny and the Mononga¬ 
hela rivers, and that I voted as liberally and as cheerfull} 7 for an appro- 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


71 


priation for it and for other stretches of the Ohio River that needed 
improvement as I did for the lower Mississippi River. [Great 
applause.] 

And I want to say to his friend from the Monongahela that when, as 
chairman of the River and Harbor Committee, I went up that river to 
see its needs, and found it fettered by locks and dams owned by a cor¬ 
poration, that the Committee on Rivers and Harbors decided that that 
river should be made free and its coal output untaxed, and this was 
carried out. [Applause.] I wrote with nry own hand the proposition 
that first went into the river and harbor bill committing Congress to 
the purchase of those locks and dams through which the coal and com¬ 
merce of that region passed, and Congress did purchase those locks 
and dams, and enlarged them, and made that river free to-day. [Great 
applause.] 

There is no question any longer of the method of preventing the 
floods of the river. That has been settled. We fought the battle over 
levees and outlets and reservoirs for ten years in Congress. Every 
known authority, living or dead, was consulted; every investigation 
that was possible was made. The very Mississippi River Commission 
itself was appointed by Congress for the purpose of determining what 
was the best method of treating the great river, and let me say to you 
that the outlet system was unqualifiedly condemned, the reservoir sys¬ 
tem was discarded as impracticable, and Congress years ago settled 
down to the levee system as the only one at all applicable to the great 
river to reach the results that we desired to attain. [Applause.] 

So I take it there is no necessity to enter again into an academic 
discussion of that kind. We are here as levee men; we are here 
knowing that the way to harness the great river and prevent it from 
becoming a terror to those who live in its lower valley is to build the 
levees high enough and strong enough to withstand any flood. 
[Applause.] We believe it is the duty of the Federal Government to 
do this, though if the truth be told of the fine levee system we have, 
but a comparatively small portion of it has been at the expense of the 
Federal Government. Let me tell you men of the North in this 
audience that we in Louisiana tax ourselves in two ways for levee 
construction and repair. We have a State tax that rests on all prop¬ 
erty throughout the State, whether it be in the alluvial valley or in 
the hill country of north Louisiana whence 1 come. Then we have the 
alluvial regions of Louisiana subdivided into levee-taxing districts, 
and we authorize those districts to levy upon all property and all 
produce within their limits taxes equal to 10 mills each year. So that 
this magnificent line of levees of which I have spoken is, in far greater 
part, the result of the expenditure of money raised by taxation in the 
States of Louisiana and Mississippi; and in recent }^ears Arkansas has 
created levee-taxing districts also. 

While this is the case, nevertheless these levees have to be built 
higher and made stronger. This great river is the property of the 
National Government, and no State can adequately handle it, because, 
first, the proposition is too vast and costly for any one State; sec¬ 
ondly, because the Government of the United States alone has 
authority under the Constitution to say in what way the river shall 
be handled and regulated; and because, in the third place, the Federal 
Government is not circumscribed by State lines. It can treat the 
river as a whole, w T hereas no State can treat it except as along the 
reaches of the river that may be within the State or on its border. 


72 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


The time has come, fellow-citizens, I repeat, for Congress to recog¬ 
nize its full duty. While it has made the appropriations of which I 
spoke, nevertheless there has been no statute enacted by Congress 
that specifically- requires the War Department, through the Engineer 
Corps, to take charge of the river, to police and protect it, and prevent 
its floods. The time is ripe for the American people to instruct their 
Representatives and Senators to do this. The time is coming when we 
will desire to utilize the forces and elements that are in the waters of 
the Mississippi River, to build up our low places and renovate our 
worn-out lands by a system of lateral levees, such as obtain on the 
Nile, and that can’t be done by the States — I mean, regulating the dis¬ 
charge of water in on these basins made bv lateral levees. The Fed¬ 
eral Government alone can do that. A State can not say that an outlet 
shall be made in the river, because if you grant to the State the right 
to make one outlet it would have the right to make a thousand, and 
in that way the navigation of the great river itself might be destroyed. 
When the river or the country through which it runs was purchased 
from France, and when the States bordering upon the lower Mississippi 
were admitted into the Union, it was upon the condition that the navi¬ 
gation of the river should ever remain open and free to the trade and 
commerce of the world. [Applause.] 

So, fellow-citizens, it is to the Federal Government that we look, 
that the American people should look, to take charge of the river; 
to say what shall be done to it and what shall not be done to it; and I 
trust that this convention will, in the resolutiohs that it adopts, speak 
in no uncertain tones on that line. Let this convention recommend to 
Congress, let it urge upon Congress, let it demand of Congress, that 
the Federal Government put forth its hand, and put it forth with such 
vigor and strength in respect to harnessing the great river that it will 
no longer be a demon of destruction to those who live in its lower 
valley. Let it put forth its hand in such a way as to stay its angry 
waters, and, in reverential imitation of the Divine Teacher of Galilee, 
say to them, “Peace! Be still!-” [Great applause.] 

The Allied Question of Irrigation. 

[By Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture.] 

Mr. President and gentlemen of the convention, I thank you very 
heartil}^ for this kindly greeting of yours. My main object in coming 
South at this time is to visit the cotton fields and see what damage the 
boll weevil is doing. [Applause.] I want also to visit the rice fields 
and see how far you have got toward growing all the rice we need in 
the United States, and how soon it will be necessary to help arrange 
the legislation so that you can ship it abroad and begin to feed the 
world outside. [Applause.] 

Speaking about the Mississippi River induces me to hark back to 
olden times. Thirty years ago the people of a district in Iowa sent 
me to Congress to help get the lower Mississippi River jettied, so that 
freight vessels drawing 26 feet could come over }^our bar, and I see 
sitting before me an old colleague of mine who was a leader in the 
House at that time. It looked hopeless for quite a while; the mouth 
of the Mississippi River seemed to a good many people a good way off; 
but Governor Stanard had very persuasive ways. [Applause.] He 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 73 

told us that if ocean-going vessels drawing 26 feet of water could get 
up here this would become one of the great export cities of the country 
with regard to grain, etc., and it has. We got the river jettied, ancl 
this became, I think, the second export city of the nation. [Applause.] 

I remember being in California once. They had an awkward way up 
there of holding you up and asking if you were ready to admit that Cal¬ 
ifornia was the greatest State in the Union. [Laughter and applause.] 
I got a little tired of it, and finally one day I was surrounded by 
a few very nice young fellows representing the press. They said: 
“ What, are you doing here?” 44 Oh, just looking around.” a Don’t 
you believe California is the greatest State in the Union? ” 44 Oh, cer¬ 

tainly; anybody will admit that.” 44 Well, what are you doing here? 
You have something in mind.” 44 Well, to be frank with you, I have.” 
44 Let us have it,” and they drew out their pencils. 44 Why,” I said, 
44 1 am hunting this coast up and down to find a man who has as much 
confidence in its future as I have myself.” [Laughter and applause.] 
Now, gentlemen, I will not apply that to you. I think you well 
understand the coming greatness of the Gulf ports. Why, a child 
can begin rolling a barrel away up in Minnesota and can roll it all the 
way down to the Gulf of Mexico. That is the natural place for our 
products to come to to seek the markets of the world, down hill. 
There is no doubt about it at all. Just as soon as we cut the Isthmian 
canal, wherever it may happen to be cut [applause and laughter], pros¬ 
perity will come to the Gulf ports and your people will not have to 
go after it. It will be here, and it will be up to you to take care of 
it. [Applause.] 

Now, with regard to the Federal Government taking care of the 
levees down here on your great river, I must say that I am exceed¬ 
ingly interested in it. It is a new proposition for me, and you have 
my sincere sympathy in pushing it. [Applause.] You have now a 
man in the White House who is broad enough to sympathize in all 
these great national movements, and you will get as much encourage¬ 
ment from him as you will from any of your own people. [Applause.] 

I have been studying the other end of this question—the question 
of moisture—which" is the most prominent in agriculture. Congress 
took a step forward in the enactment of the great irrigation law, 
whereby the waters are to be held up and let out on the dry and arid 
plains of the West, and the lands to be sold to actual settlers for the 
cost of doing the work. That was a great step in advance. When we 
come to look at it squarely in the face there was no good reason why 
the people’s money should be taken to improve rivers and harbors and 
nothing should ever go to those people up there, and so it was con¬ 
cluded to be a wise move. 

There are several things to be considered with regard to the surplus 
moisture vou get from the great Father of Waters every year. The 
Weather Bureau is part of my Department. We had to tell you within 
the past year that the Mississippi River would go higher than it had 
ever gone before, and that you would have to take care of vour levees— 
and you did. Now, why is this river getting higher and higher? You 
haven’t seen the end of it. It is going to call for more and more efforts 
all the time, because the causes* that bring it about are more and more 
in evidence. The great reservoir of water is the mountain. It is 
natural for a mountain to hold water until it is full and can’t hold any 
more, and then it comes out in streams through the summer, and the 


74 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


flow of the river is kept up wherever these conditions prevail. The 
woodman has gone to work on the Atlantic coast and cut through to 
the Pacific, and he has chopped away the capacity of our mountains 
for holding water. These are the original reservoirs, but they are 
comparatively useless. Water falling on them runs off again and 
makes the biggest Mississippi River you ever saw—and it is going to 
continue to do that and make you a still bigger river. 

You need more help than you imagine. Before the work can be 
done that must and should be done to counteract this, our mountains 
should be put in a position to hold water; they should become again 
the original reservoirs. Go down to the great Appalachian range and 
look at the conditions over there where the woods have not been 
touched. Go up there in the mountains, 6,000 feet high, and you will 
find the fir and the balsam up there; you will find the bracken and the 
moss, and all those other things that hold the water that comes from 
the clouds until the capacity of the mountain is filled, and these beau¬ 
tiful streams flow out and bless the land. Cut the woods down and 
there will be no beautiful streams, no delightful trout streams, and all 
these waters will come down into the Mississippi River in an inoppor¬ 
tune time and call upon you to raise your levees higher. That’s what’s 
ahead of you. I don’t wonder that you are somewhat tired of the 
expense of taking care of this great watercourse. 

Now, in regard to the dam, that is the second thing after the moun¬ 
tain. European countries build dams to hold up water to use in dry 
times. You have got one of the heaviest rainfalls in the United States, 
and }^et you have great droughts. I inquired into your crops here. 
Your yield of cane is light, because you had a drought here. This great 
river flows past your doors into the Gulf of Mexico, and you have lost 
one-half of your cane crop because you didn’t use any of its waters. 

Now, I don’t mean to take the position that you can build two or 
three dams, and that it will interfere very much with the flow of the 
Mississippi River when it is at its height. Anybody will know that 
can’t be done. The Department is giving out literature to the people 
along these lines, showing them that there is value in what comes 
from the clouds, and that we can not much longer neglect to avail our¬ 
selves of that value. Water is the carrying system of the soil for the 
benefit of the land. The plant food that is found in the soil, both 
mineral and organic, is brought to the roots of the plant by the mois¬ 
ture that is in the soil, and if there is not enough moisture in the soil 
to carry out that transportation system the crop can not be made a 
good one. 

But our people will get to understand this water question, and 
whenever our people begin to studj- any great problem presented to 
them they always solve it on a common-sense basis. [Applause.] 
And they will solve this one on a common-sense basis. 

While a few dams would have no appreciable influence on the great 
river when it gets down here, ten thousand dams might, and the day 
is coming when agriculture will be so well understood and the effects 
of drought will be so thoroughly attended to and prevented that people 
will hold the waters that originate in the outer reaches of the great 
river and all its branches and dam after dam will be built upon the 
basis of eking out the moisture necessaiy to make a normal crop. 
That time will come. It will take some time to appreciably affect the 
Mississippi River by that process, but they have done these things in 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


75 


the Old V orld, and whatever the}^ do there we can not onty do here, 
but we can improve on them. [Applause.] 

But I recognize the fact that } t ou can not wait for the education of 
the people and the reforesting of the mountains. Your ability to pay 
taxes and raise money to keep your levees going higher and higher 
may be exhausted before that time. But some day within the United 
States agriculture will be better understood, and when the rain falls 
people will regard it as a blessing rather than a nuisance. These 
waters will be hoarded up all over the great valley, and then you will 
find an appreciable difference here and will go to work to lower your 
levees. [Applause.] 

Gentlemen, I have no speech prepared, and have nothing to say. It 
was very suddenly that I was called upon to say a few words, but 
such a meeting as this is inspiring. I thank you and wish you well. 
[Applause.] 

History of the Levee System. 

[By Hon. Joseph E. Ransdell, of Louisiana.] ' 


Mr. President and gentlemen of the convention: Some two years 
ago, in the city of Washington, I had the pleasure of listening to a 
magnificent oration of that prince of orators, Senator John M. Daniel, 
of Virginia. It was on the occasion of the celebration of the one 
hundredth anniversary of the removal of the capital to that city. The 
exercises were quite long, and everyone had grown tired when Senator 
Daniel was called on, late in the day, to deliver his address. He made 
a masterly effort, but when he concluded nearly everyone was worn 
out. That grand old son of Massachusetts, one of the greatest orators 
of the nation, Senator George Hoar, had to follow the brilliant Daniel, 
but when Daniel closed his speech two-thirds of the audience, com¬ 
pletely fagged out b}^ the length of the exercises, rose and left the 
room. The venerable Senator Hoar stood quieth r while they were 
walking out, and then said, in that sweet and pleasant voice of his: 
“ Unhappy is he that cometh after a king.” [Applause and laughter.] 
I feel somewhat like sajdng that myself to-night. I know that you 
must be fairly tired out. Our exercises have lasted all day, but I beg 
of you to be patient with me for a few moments; I will not detain you 
long. 

I feel highly honored at having an opportunity to address this great 
convention, probably the most important, in its ultimate results, that 
ever assembled in the Mississippi Valley. Heretofore we have had 
splendid conventions of the Western Water ways Association at Vicks¬ 
burg, Memphis, Cairo, Davenport, and other cities, in which all the 
streams which empty into the Mississippi and its numerous tributaries 
were represented, and aid was sought for all of them, but this time it 
is the parent stream, the Father of Waters, which seeks relief, and all 
its dutiful children from the Alleghenies to the Rockies, together with 
many relatives and friends from other States, are gathered in its honor 
and anxious to render it aid. But even as to the Mississippi this con¬ 
vention can not generalize, for we are here to consider its levee system 
and the many problems connected therewith. The subject of levees is 
well worthy our earnest consideration. It has engaged for the past two 
hundred years the best thought of the brightest minds in our valley, 
and there is wonderful unanimity of opinion among them. It has 


76 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


caused the expenditure of over $57,000,000 by the riparian States and 
the National Government, and fully $20,000,000 must be spent to com¬ 
plete and perfect it. When completed it will protect 30,000 square 
miles, equal to 20,000,000 acres, of the most fertile land on our planet, 
capable of supporting 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 agriculturists, who will 
prosper on the richest farms in the world and be heavy consumers of 
every manufacturing industry in the land. 

This great system had its birth nearly two centuries ago when the 
first levee was constructed in 1717 in front of New Orleans, then a 
mere village. Since then its growth has been steady, until we now 
have 1,490 miles of levees, extending, in places on both banks of the 
river, from a point nearly opposite Cairo to many miles below this 
city, but it must be understood that much of this is deficient in sec¬ 
tion and height. The levees are not continuous, but there are consid¬ 
erable gaps at-several points, such as the mouths of the Red, the 
Yazoo, the Arkansas, the White, and the St. Francis rivers, and 
through these gaps in seasons of flood the waters pour unrestrained, 
overflowing a large expanse of some 4,870 square miles, which has no 
protection whatever. The ultimate plan is to close all of them as 
nearly as possible. 

Prior to 1882 the General Government gave no material aid to levees 
except by a grant of swamp lands to the several States in 1850. This 
grant was of little benefit, as the lands had no value until protected 
from overflow. In 1882 the first direct allotment of $1,300,000 was 
made for levees through the Mississippi River Commission. Since 
then appropriations, direct or indirect, have been made in every river 
and harbor bill, and the protection of the valley by means of levees 
has become the well-settled and established policy of the National 
Congress. The amount expended by the Government for levees to 
the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, is a fraction over 
$17,500,000, and the States and levee districts have spent something 
over $40,000,000, making the total cost of our levees about $57,000,- 
000 to $58,000,000.. 

The River Commission, in its last published report, estimates that 
the present levees contain 168,479,726 yards of earth, which is 64 per 
cent of the entire system, and that it will require some 94,054,488 to 
complete them. No price is fixed on this work, but at 20 cents a 
yard—an outside figure—the additional cost will be less than 
$20,000,000. What we need, then, is $20,000,000, and considering 
the magnitude of the interests involved this is a very small sum. Nor 
do we ask all this money from Uncle Sam. We have helped ourselves 
nobly in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. We have 
taxed everything in the valley for levees, even the succulent oysters 
for which New Orleans is so famous. And here in Louisiana w T e have 
a general State tax of 1 mill for levees, which attaches to all property 
in the State, whether it be in the lowlands or on the highest hills. 
These taxes average about $2,000,000 annually. Out of this we must 
deduct costs of collection, interest on bonds, expense of maintaining 
existing levees and restoring losses, so that only about $1,200,000 a 
year can be spent on new levees. These taxes are a fearful burden, 
but we are willing to bear them a few years longer until our levees 
are complete if Uncle Sam will do his part and help as we deserve. 

The National Government seems committed to a policy of about 
$1,000,000 a year for levees. This is not enough. We pa} 7 more 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


77 


than that ourselves. VVe have spent already more than twice as much 
as Uncle Sam, and as he is, at least, an equal beneficiary, he should 
bear his full share of the expense. He has admitted the equity of our 
claim by spending $17,500,000 on us in the past twenty years, and has 
shown by the consistency of his appropriations for all these years that 
it is his intention to perfect our levee system. Then why delay it so 
long? If it will cost $20,000,000 to complete it, why not give us two 
or three millions a year instead of one, and bring this great work to a 
close in the next six or seven years ? Great harm may come from 
delay, and incalculable good will result from prompt action. 

We had last spring one of the greatest floods on record, and though 
the waters rose in many places from 2 to 4 feet higher than ever before, 
the levees behaved admirably. In the entire system there were only 
six crevasses of am^ importance, and the levee line washed away was 
only 11,650 feet, or a fraction over 2 miles. Of the 1,490 miles of 
levees, all held except these 2 miles, and of the protected area only 
about 10 per cent was overflowed. 

This is certainly a fine showing and one which gives the greatest 
encouragement to all friends of levees. It demonstrates as never 
before that the waters can be successfully confined in the channel of 
the river. In spite of that enormous flood, which was actually 4.6 
feet higher just below Memphis than the record-breaking water of 
1897, 3.1 feet higher at Memphis, 2.4 feet higher at Greenville, and 
2.5 feet higher just below Lake Providence, the levees in most places 
stood the strain successful^, and this, too, in spite of the fact that 
very few of them have been completed to commission grade of 3 feet 
above the water of 1897. If this be the record, and we have only 10 
per cent of loss in the greatest of floods, when only 64 per cent of 
earthwork of our levees is in place, what will it be when we have them 
completed? In my judgment, the mighty Mississippi will then be 
under perfect control, and will go quietly to the sea, confined to its 
channel and incapable of harm. Perhaps this view is too optimistic. 
In discussing this question our great levee authority and eminent citi¬ 
zen, Maj. B. M. Harrod, said recently: “Crevasses will occur as long 
as trains are derailed or collide, as ships are wrecked, as fireproof 
buildings are destroyed.” And perhaps he is right. Occasional 
disasters may come, but the}^ will be few and far between. In the 
main, the valley will be safe, and peace and plenty will reign among 
the happy millions of our promised land. 

Mr. Chairman, the object of this gathering is to induce Congress to 
make larger appropriations for levees, and in order to bring that about 
we must convince the nation of our needs and the justice of our claims. 
For us who live on the banks of the great river and suffer from its 
floods no argument is necessary. It seems to us our case is so urgent 
that its bare statement should appeal in thunder tones to our national 
lawmakers and compel them to grant us relief. We imagine our con¬ 
dition is much more urgent and meritorious than any others, and many 
of our people find it strange that so little is done for us. To these 
persons I desire to say that this is a great country, with innumerable 
rivers and harbors needing Government aid, and that each Congress¬ 
man thinks his own rivers and harbors as important as the Mississippi. 
I have studied this question carefully, and am convinced that we have 
no just cause for complaint. I believe we have received, at least for 
the past twenty years, a reasonably fair share of the sums appropriated 


78 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


for rivers and harbors; but, in my opinion these sums have been totally 
inadequate not only to our needs on the Mississippi, but to the needs 
of our country at large, and in future the amount of river and har¬ 
bor appropriations should be much increased. I do not think these 
appropriations have kept pace either with our wonderful commercial 
growth and rapid increase of population or with other great items of 
national expense. A comparative table, prepared by Hon. Theo. E. 
Burton and used with much effect in his great speech in Congress on 
the last river and harbor bill, shows the following increase per cent of 
rivers and harbors and several other appropriations from 1879 to 1902: 

Per cent. 


Rivers and harbors, 1879 to average for 1901 and 1902. 42 

Rivers and harbors, 1879 to average for 1900 and 1901. 152 

Post-Office, 1879 to 1902 . 272 

Army, 1879 to 1902. 352 

Navy, 1879 to 1902 . 451 

Agriculture, 1879 to 1902. 1, 709 

Fortifications, 1879.to 1902. 2,577 


Thus we see that while the other great appropriation bills are 
increasing very rapidly—going forward, in fact, b}^ leaps and bounds— 
that for rivers and harbors is sadly behindhand. 

The following table prepared by me shows that the average annual 
appropriation for ten years ending June 30, 1904, was: 


For rivers and harbors.$17, 865, 615.50 

For Agriculture. 3, 999, 406. 50 

For pensions. 144, 025, 442. 00 

For Post-Office. 109, 924, 500. 50 

For Indians. 8,523, 845. 50 

For fortifications. 6,474, 899. 00 

For Army.:. 59, 645, 386.50 

For Navy. 52,148, 387. 50 

It thus appears that the Post-Office, which is very close to all of us, 
received six times as much as rivers and harbors; that the Navy, one 
branch of our war service, received three times as much; the Army, 
three and one-half times; and the Navy, Army, and fortifications com¬ 
bined, which constitute our national defense, six and one-half times 
as much as we have paid to aid in developing the magnificent commerce 
which makes us the greatest nation on the globe; that commerce on 
which the sun never sets; that commerce which rises with the bright 
orb of day and follows him in his course, keeping time to the music of 
the spheres and filling the world with the eloquent voices of our 
drummer boys pleading ever in dulcet tones the commercial supremacy 
of America. 

There is no good and valid reason for this. Every dollar spent on 
the improvement of rivers and harbors cheapens freights, thereby 
increasing the profits of our farms and factories and aiding in the 
profitable growth of our internal and foreign commerce. These 
expenditures are solely in the interest of commerce and ought to appeal 
strongly to every citizen of the countiy, as cheap freights certaini}- 
enable him to buy cheaper and to sell at a greater profit. 1 have no 
means of arriving at the amount of our domestic commerce, which is 
colossal, but the total of our imports and exports in 1902 were 
$2,285,040,389, and for the past five years our exports to foreign 
countries have exceeded our imports by over $546,000,000 a }^ear. In 
other words, the world has bought from us $546,000,000 per year more 

















IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 79 

than we have bought from it, which gives a splendid trade balance in 
our favor. 

This fine showing is largety due to our wonderful transportation 
facilities by river, lake, rail, and ocean which enables us to compete on 
terms of vantage with every country in the world. Shall we keep that 
trade and hold onto our present commanding position? Undoubtedly 
it is our duty to do so, and there is no surer means than by continuing 
to better our transportation. The harbors on our sea and Gulf coast 
must be greatly enlarged to meet the growing size of ocean vessels; 
the ports on the Great Lakes and the rivers connecting them must be 
materially deepened and protected from storms; the great Columbia 
River must be opened by a system of locks and dams at a cost insig¬ 
nificant compared w T ith the immense shipments from the richest wheat 
fields on the earth which will float to the Pacific on its bosom; the 
Ohio, that splendid stream which flows for 900 miles through the gar¬ 
den spot of America, must be given a good boating stage at all seasons, 
and the same must be done for its great tributaries, the Tennessee and 
the Cumberland, and innumerable other works of lesser magnitude, 
but of the greatest importance to their respective localities, must be 
provided for. All these things require a vast sum of money. 

The projects before the Rivers and Harbors Committee when the last 
bill was adopted, which had been survej^ed and reported on by the 
Engineer Department, called for an expenditure of over $300,000,000, 
and there was merit in everyone of these projects, while the majority 
of them were of great necessity. That bill appropriated nearly 
$27,000,000 cash, and authorized continuing contracts for about 
$37,000,000, making a total of $64,000,000, and leaving the remaining 
$236,000,000 unprovided for. Since then completed surveys increase 
the amount, and when the next bill is framed we will again be urged 
to adopt and provide for projects costing in excess of $300,000,000. 
How is that to be done if the present niggardly policy is pursued? 
For the past ten years, as previously shown, our expenditures for 
rivers and harbors have averaged $17,865,615 annually, and if that 
rate is maintained it would require about seventeen years to provide 
for projects now being urged upon us, without any allowance for 
maintenance of existing works and nothing for future developments. 

This convention should emphasize these facts and should call in sten¬ 
torian tones for a considerable increase in river and harbor appropria¬ 
tions. No mere pittance will suffice. The bill should carry at least 
$40,000,000 in cash and continuing contracts of $60,000,000 additional. 
And there should be a bill of this size every two years, which would 
result in giving us about $50,000,000 a year. Even that would place 
us hopelessly behind the Post-Office, the Army, the Navy, and the 
Pension Departments, but with that sum annually we might in a few 
years be in a fairly good condition. 

There has been some suggestion in the press that Congress may not 
pass a river and harbor bill at the coming session. 1 can not believe 
such a thing is seriously contemplated, but this convention should 
utter its vehement protest and appeal to all true friends of American 
commerce to prevent such a great disaster as the failure of another 
river and harbor bill. 

In conclusion, permit me to say that in my opinion the only possi¬ 
ble plan for us to secure an increase in our levee appropriations is to 
secure an increase in the general bill. If we are to have another 


80 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


$6±,000,000, it is out of the question for levees to expect to receive 
over $1,000,000 a year. Let us then bend all our energies to secure 
a bill carrying at least $100,000,000 for rivers and harbors, and if suc¬ 
cessful in that we can confidently expect $2,500,000 to $3,000,000 per 
year for our levees. 

The Subjugation of the Mississippi. 

[By Hon. R. S. Taylor, member of the Mississippi River Commission.] 

Mr. chairman and gentlemen of the .convention: You are a serious- 
minded body of men. You have assembled on serious business. I am 
proposing to make you a serious speech. It will not be inappropriate, 
therefore, to begin my remarks with a quotation from the sacred 
Scriptures of a few words contained in the twenty-eighth verse of the 
first chapter of Genesis: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish 
the earth and subdue it.” 

Think of it! This great rolling globe, with its trackless forests, its 
unsailed seas, its impassable rivers, mountains, and deserts, its burn¬ 
ing heat, chilling cold, storms, beasts, and countless perils on the one 
hand, and the naked, new-created pigmy, man, on the other. Was his 
Maker mocking him that He bid him subdue the earth? 

How feebly that conquest began; how slow its progress through 
tedious ages; how at last it spread and rose and swept over land and sea; 
how glorious has been its march in the recent centuries, and yet how 
much of its complete fulfillment remains unaccomplished. To subdue 
the earth, its soil, elements, and forces in every land and make all things 
on it tributary to the happiness of man is still the high destiny of the 
race. In this vast programme of conquest a prominent place belongs to 
the subjugation of the Mississippi River. I consider, therefore, that 
as a Mississippi River Commissioner I have the warrant, not only of 
the ofiice which I hold, but of the direct command of Almighty God. 

Consider for a moment what the subjugation of this particular part 
of the earth means. There was a time when an arm of the sea extended 
from the Gulf of Mexico to the highlands above Cairo, III. It received 
the drainage of all the lands lying between the Alleghenies and the 
Rocky Mountains. The detritus brought down by the rivers which 
emptied into it—the Tennessee, Cumberland, Ohio, upper Mississippi, 
Missouri, St. Francis, Arkansas, and Red—filled it up and made the 
present alluvial basin. That basin contains something over 29,000 
square miles of the richest land which nature knows how to compound. 
It is geological cream skimmed from a million square miles of earth’s 
surface. It lies in the path of the great Gulf stream of the air which 
flows northeastward from the western borders of the Gulf of Mexico 
and distributes rain from Texas to Pennsylvania. It extends through 
nearly 600 miles of latitude and embraces three distinct belts, each 
adapted to the growth of a great staple—the northern third to corn, 
the middle third to cotton, and the southern third to sugar. There is 
nowhere else in the world so great area of such fertile land occupied 
by people so advanced in civilization and so well able to utilize its 
great possibilities for the good of the world. 

In its natural state this whole area of 29,000 square miles was sub¬ 
ject to overflow. A great flood reaches more than 50 feet above the 
low-water plane at Cairo. Passing downward it first pours over the 
west bank into the basin of the St. Francis, filling there an area of 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 81 

6,700 square miles. Passing Memphis it takes possession of the Yazoo 
Basin on the east, 8,600 square miles in area. Then the Tensas Basin 
on the west, 5,300 square miles large. Below Red River it spreads 
out in huge fan shape, covering 10,000 square miles as it passes the 
final stage of its flow to the sea through the Atchafalaya and Pontchar- 
train basins. These five great subdivisions, with a number of smaller 
areas not named, make a grand total of 29,790 squares miles. 1 am 
speaking now of the overflows which occurred when the valley was in 
a state of nature, and would occur again if there were no protection 
against them. They filled the whole plain, from the hills on the east 
to the hills on the west. They restored the ancient estuary, 10 to 
20 miles wide in its upper portions, 20 to 60 miles wide in its central 
parts, and more than 100 miles wide at the sea line. The waterway 
thus formed was so wide and the reservoir capacity of the area was so 
great that the floods did not reach a great height. When white men 
took possession of the ground where this city stands they found a high 
dry bank, rarely overflowed at all, and then onty to a shallow depth. 
The reason was that a large part—probably more than half—of the flood 
discharge left the channel over the open west bank, which extended 
for 300 miles or more northward and found its wa}^ to the sea across 
the Atchafalaya countiy. To protect the small area first occupied 
was a simple matter. To see why this is so will require a moment’s 
consideration of the Mississippi River’s method of land building. 

The water which flows in the channel of the Mississippi is at all 
times charged with sediment in greater or less quantity, consisting of 
sand and loam, part of which comes from far up the valley and part 
of which is eroded from the banks along the way, the amount of which 
is greatest at flood stages. The quantity of such sediment that flowing 
water can carry depends upon velocity of its flow. A diminution of 
that velocity compels it to drop part of its load. When the river 
overflows its bank the obstructions in the way of the escaping water 
retard its flow and so cause it to deposit sediment as it goes. This 
diminution of velocity is most effective to cause deposit immediately 
after the water leaves the channel. As a consequence, the overflowed 
area is built up most rapidly near the bank, and so the surface of the 
adjacent country slopes away from the river. At the present time this 
slope varies from 2 or 3 feet to as much as 8 or 10 in the first mile. 

I never recur to this subject without renewed wonder at the vast 
results which nature accomplishes by the simplest of means. If you 
set on your table a tumblerful of Mississippi River water fresh from 
the flowing stream, you will have a deposit in its bottom, a mere film 
of mud, in a few minutes. In a few hours you will have half a tea¬ 
spoonful of mud as thick as hotel cream. This whole alluvial valley 
has been built by the same process. Every spoonful of earth in it 
has been brought to the place where it rests by flowing water. It 
ceased to journey toward the sea, because the velocity of the water was 
insufficient to carry it farther. Since I began to speak, the river has 
carried through this city enough sediment to load a railroad train with 
dry soil. 

The mills of the gods grind slow, but they grind exceeding small. 
They have ground the faces of the mountains and filled the gulfs of the 
sea with the dust thereof, that the sons of men may dwell in gardens 
and their children eat food. 


S. Doc. 245, 58-2-6 


82 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


But the early settlers at New Orleans had no time for such reveries 
as these. The}^ found bordering the river a strip of dry, fertile land 
2 or 3 miles wide, sloping gentl} T back toward Lake Pontchartrain. 
At low water the river’s surface was 8 or 10 feet below the top of the 
bank; at extreme flood not more than 1 or 2 feet above it. It was an 
easy matter to build a levee sufficient for protection against such over¬ 
flow. An embankment along the river front 3 feet high, extending 
back laterally to the lowlands in the rear, was all that was necessar}". 
There was such free discharge for the overflowing water into Lake 
Pontchartrain that no back levee was necessary. One in front and one 
on each side, diminishing in height to the swamp, was enough, and 
these so slight that the total cost of building them was little more than 
the cost of a fence. 

It was within the power of each planter to protect himself and live 
on his own sunken island in the Mississippi sea. On this small scale, 
at the spot wffiere we are assembled, the levee system had its beginning 
nearty two hundred years ago. The campaign of subjugation of the 
Mississippi River had commenced. 

As the settlements increased the levees were extended both up and 
down the stream and on both sides. Each mile of embankment shut 
off so much of the overflow previous^ accustomed to escape over that 
portion of the bank, and so forced that much water back into the 
channel. As the embankments crept upstream year after year on both 
sides of the river, they shut off more and more of the overflow, and so 
progressively increased the volume going down the channel between 
them at flood stages. This made it necessary to raise the levees below 
higher and higher. And so they grew in two directions—upstream in 
length and up in the air in height. 

By the time of the civil war the levees extended to the head of the 
Yazoo basin, a short distance below Memphis. They were insufficient 
in height and strength, and generally too near the bank for safety. 
During the war they were neglected, of course, and for several years 
after its close little headway was made toward their restoration. That 
work had been but partially accomplished when the flood of 1882, the 
greatest of record, wrought such havoc with them that the people of 
the valley were overwhelmed in despair. At that opportune moment 
the United States Government appeared on the scene, and with very 
different mien from that which it wore in the same region twent} T 
years before. In place of the horrid front of war, it brought the 
extended hand of sympathy and help. The Mississippi River Com¬ 
mission, which had been organized in 1879, was then just ready to 
begin its practical work with an appropriation of $4,123,000 under its 
control. B}^ the terms of the law it was required to expend the appro¬ 
priation primarily and mainly for the improvement of the channel for 
navigation, but it immediately allotted $1,000,000 for the repair and 
building of levees. 

This timety aid put hope into the hearts of the people. They took 
up the work themselves with renewed energy. There was then inaug¬ 
urated a system of cooperation between the Government at Wash¬ 
ington and the people of the valley, which has continued to this day 
with remarkable success and most beneficent results. The Commission 
let it be understood at the outset that, so far as was consistent with 
other considerations, it would help those who helped themselves. 
Under this stimulus the people rose to the occasion. They taxed them- 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


83 


selves to the utmost of their means and borrowed to the limit of their 
credit. In the twenty years that have passed the Government has 
expended $17,000,000 on the levees, and the local governments and 
organizations have expended about $20,000,000. 

The execution of the work has required a cooperation vastly more 
difficult than the mere mingling of funds. The expenditure of the 
appropriations made b}^ Congress has been under the direction of offi¬ 
cers of the Engineer Corps, detailed for that purpose by the Chief of 
Engineers, who have allowed the plans and recommendations of the 
Commission. These officers have made their own surveys, located 
their own lines, established their own grades, let their own contracts, 
and superintended their own work. The lines extend through six dif¬ 
ferent States. Each of these has it own machinery for the raising and 
expenditure of money on levees. The State engineers make their own 
surveys, locate their own levees, let their own contracts, and superin¬ 
tend their own work. It was a vast and difficult field of cooperation. 
There was room in it for no end of disagreements, jealousies, and mis¬ 
understandings. That there has been perfect harmon}^ of action and 
economical and effective expenditure of money is creditable to all who 
have had part in the practical work. 

This fortunate experience has been due in large measure to the high 
ability and greatness of character of the chief engineers of the States 
and large levee districts. Among them two yet remain in the posts 
of usefulness which they have filled for more than twent}^ years. I 
need hardly say that I refer to Maj. H. B. Richardson, of Louisiana, 
and Maj. T. G. Dabney, of Mississippi. 

During these later years the progress of levee extension has been a 
repetition on a larger scale of the early history which I have sketched. 
They have advanced from the lower reaches of the river upward in 
the same order in which they began. Their upward extension has 
cut off more and more of the former overflow, and so forced more and 
more water into the channel to be carried between banks to the sea. 
The necessary result has been to raise the flood level higher, and so 
make it necessary to build the levees, higher. Within a few years the 
system has been approaching a complete continuity except at the 
spaces necessarily left open at the lower ends of the basins for the exit 
of surface drainage. It was impossible for those familiar with the 
subject not to look forward to the passing of the next great flood with 
extreme anxiety. What would happen ? That flood has come and has 
gone, leaving behind it a record of mingled disaster and success. Upon 
the whole, it has demonstrated the feasibility and ultimate success of 
the levee system. 

I will give j^ou my reasons for this belief, and this, I beg to say, is 
the most important part of my message to-day. The flood of. 1903 
was not a final test, because the levee system is incomplete; but it was 
highly instructive as preliminary to a final test. The last great flood 
prior to the present year was in 1897. It was a little less in magni¬ 
tude than the'last one. In the interim the levees had been greatly 
improved in strength and extended a little. A large part of the 
extensions, however, were of deficient grade, particularly in the St. 
Francis Basin. It is a usual practice by the local levee authorities, in 
their anxiety to cover all the area possible in the construction of new 
levees, to build them first to a grade sufficient to withstand ordinary 
floods only, leaving to the future the work of raising them to meet 


84 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


extraordinary floods like those of 1897 and 1903. This is, no doubt, 
a prudent course where the need is urgent and the resources limited. 

The flood of 1897 (less in magnitude than that of 1903) broke the 
levees in 38 places; that of 1903 in 9 places, and of these 3 were breaks 
of small importance below the city of New Orleans. The total length 
of levee destroyed by crevasses in 1903 was about 3 miles; the length 
destroyed in 1897 was about 8 miles. Neither of these was a large 
loss out of a total length which existed of 1,400 miles. 

The most important part of this study, however, relates to the area 
overflowed and the causes of the overflow. 1 have told you that the 
total area liable to overflow is about 29,000 square miles. This 
includes the whole land surface to the margin of the Gulf. A con¬ 
siderable portion of this is incapable of protection by levees. At the 
foot of each of the great basins an opening has to be left to permit the 
escape of surface water from the basin above. In time of flood the 
water enters these openings and backs up a number of miles over the 
lower part of the basin. This sort of overflow can be minimized by 
extending the levees downward as near to the foot of the basin as 
practicable, and there will ultimately be constructed some extension 
of the levees in all the basins for this purpose. It is necessary also, in 
making an estimate of the effectiveness of the present levee system, to 
exclude from consideration those areas which were overflowed because 
levees yet to be constructed as part of the system have not } T et been 
built. With these facts in mind, the following figures are highly 
instructive: The total area overflowed in 1903 was 8,000 square miles, 
leaving 21,000 square miles of the alluvial basin free of inundation. 
If there had been no levees the whole valley would have been under 
water from hill to hill. Of the 8,000 square miles overflowed, 3,000 
were overflowed by backwater in the manner that I have described, 
and 2,000 square miles were overflowed because the levees necessary to 
protect the area have not yet been built. That makes 5,000 square 
miles of overflow which the present levee system was, in the nature 
of things, ineffective to prevent. This leaves 3,000 square miles of 
overflow which the existing levees would have prevented if there had 
been no breaks. 

From what I have said it appears that out of the whole 29,000 square 
miles in the valley, 3,000 square miles were overflowed by backwater. 
This amount might be reduced somewhat by extensions of the levees, 
but for my present purpose I may assume that this much overflow is 
inevitable under the most perfect levee system. That leaves 26,000 
square miles which can be protected if the levee system is capable of 
affording perfect protection, and by that standard it is fair to measure 
the effectiveness of the present system. I may say, therefore, that 
out of a total of 26,000 square miles which a perfected levee system 
would be expected to protect, 3,000 square miles were overflowed in 
1903. That is less than one-eighth of the exposed area. The existing 
levees, therefore, protected seven-eighths of the land capable of pro¬ 
tection by a completed system carrying the whole flood to the sea 
without a break. If I call that 12£ per cent, 1 may say that the exist¬ 
ing system accomplished, in the flood of 1903, 87i per cent of suc¬ 
cess out of a possible 100. 

I submit these figures to you, gentlemen, as a demonstration of the 
magnificent efficiency and success of the levee system. 

But this statement does not do full justice to the levees. The value 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


85 


of a police force is not confined to the number of hours in a year 
during which it is engaged in arresting or chasing down criminals. 
Its main value consists in the securit} T which its presence affords 
through all the year. In like manner, the value of a levee sj^stem is 
not confined to the }^ears of great floods. It covers all the years. It 
consists in the security which it affords from year to j T ear all over the 
valley against destructive overflow. That sense of security which 
invites people to the country and makes industry and enterprise possi¬ 
ble and life enjoyable is the real benefit which accrues and is to accrue 
from a levee system. Therefore, to ascertain the true worth of a 
system, you must spread the protection which it actually affords 
against a great flood over all the intervening time. The flood of 1903 
was the first one of magnitude since 1897, a period of five years. 

The history of the past shows that such floods rarely come more fre¬ 
quently than once in five years. I am confident that the levees as they 
stand to-day, with the incomplete lines finished up, and without the 
enlargements and higher grades which are in contemplation, would 
protect the valley through four years out of five. 

If I spread 12j per cent over five years, so as to obtain an average, 
not only of area, but of time, it follows that, taking into account the 
past five years, the levees have done 97£ per cent of useful work out 
of a possible J 00. 

If anyone has any doubt in his mind of the value of a levee system, 
I ask him to ponder these figures. 

There is another set of facts of the highest significance in regard to 
the value of a levee system. They are the results which have followed 
the development of the present system. These results show what 
occurs in the alluvial valley as confidence is built up in the effective¬ 
ness and security of protection from overflow. I have seen property 
advance all over the alluvial valley, in some places 100 per cent, in some 
places 200 per cent, in some places 300 per cent, since the people began 
to entertain a feeling of confidence in security against overflow. This 
development has reached every branch of business and every interest 
in life. Cultivated farms, homes, mills, banks, railroads, and every 
adjunct of prosperous and progressive society have multiplied amaz¬ 
ingly. 

And this is only the beginning of what is possible. Less than half 
of the tillable land in the valley has been brought under cultivation. 
It is capable of sustaining a population two, three, or four times that 
which it has at present, and this without counting on large manu¬ 
facturing cities. Is it to be imagined that such a country, with such 
resources, where the cotton plant is a small tree and the corn field is a 
miniature forest, can be given over to ruin by the abandonment of a 
system which has already produced such magnificent results ? It seems 
to me that there is only one question about it which the people of the 
valley or the people of the United States can ask, and that is, is there 
any reason to doubt the possibility of going forward with the work so 
well begun and so far advanced to final and complete success? 

I think I do not underestimate the magnitude of the undertaking. 
It is appalling to contemplate when you turn your thoughts to that 
phase of it. I have traveled down the river on the top of a great 
flood. The water inside of the levees licked the earthen walls that 
held it to within a few inches of their tops. Outside the fields lav ten 
or fifteen feet below. Our steamboat seemed to float in air. Between 


86 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


the levees the great river—a mile wide and 100 feet deep—rolled 
silent, swift, terrible. At such a time 1 have seen the levee lined with 
men for miles, topping the embankment with bags of earth or boards 
set on edge and backed with earth to raise it a few inches higher, or 
planking the inside of the levee to save it from wave-wash. I have 
known such a line to extend with scarcely a break for 100 miles. 
There are few situations in life where human nature is put under such 
strain. 1 need not describe it to you, old flood fighters; I could not 
adequately describe it to anyone else. 

1 have seen a crevasse almost at the instant of its occurrence, the 
water rushing through the breach like a cataract and leaping and 
bounding in great waves across the fields; the negro women fleeing 
from their cabins, their children and themselves loaded with their 
simple household effects, and their husbands riding like mad from the 
fields on mules hurriedly unfastened from the plow—all seeking the 
safety of the levee; for, curiously enough, the levee is at once the line 
of danger and the line of safety. When a crevasse occurs the water 
drops a little inside the levee, and its unbroken length becomes at 
once a place of refuge. 

And yet, with all the suddenness and fury of a crevasse, it is rarely 
that lives are lost. Indeed, I have never known nor heard of the loss 
of a life in the immediate path of the rushing water. During a con¬ 
tinued overflow persons are drowned by the capsizing of skiffs and the 
like, but they are rarely caught in the rush of the outburst. It is to 
remembered that at such a time the outflow of water quickly fills up 
the adjacent country and so drowns itself, as 1 may say. It builds up a 
lake extending for some miles in all directions, through which there is 
a slow and quiet flow toward the lower levels. 

A little steamboat belonging to the Government and under the charge 
of the Commission once went through a crevasse. She was engaged in 
measuring the discharge from the river, and, venturing a little too near, 
went through like a shot. She was in smooth water in a few minutes 
and made her way safely across the fields and swamps and bayous of 
the Atchafalaya basin and home by way of the Gulf. 

Life in the alluvial region would hardly be tolerable if these dread¬ 
ful experiences were frequent or continuous in anyone locality. But 
thejr are not. During three years out of five the}^ do not occur any¬ 
where, and during the years of greatest disaster they are confined to a 
few places. At the same time it must be said that the undertaking to 
carry the great floods of the Mississippi to the sea between embank¬ 
ments of earth high above the fields and homes of the inhabitants, 
above schoolhouses, churches, cities, railroads, factories—every thing 
that enters into the life of a civilized and advancing people—is one 
fit to frighten the man who, as I said, just looks at that side of it. 

It does frighten people. In a recent publication a writer of ability 
and learning, an engineer of high acquirements, has declared that the 
levee system is a struggle with forces of nature too mighty for the 
puny strength of man. He points out that the governing purpose of 
the river is still, as it has been for ages past, to fill up the alluvial 
basin; that its overflows are its method of carrying out that purpose; 
that they distribute over the general surface the material brought 
down from the upper valley; that that material will continue to come, 
levees or no levees, and “what,” he asks, “is to be done with it?” 
“ It is imyjossible,” he says, “for the river to carry it all to the Gulf; 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


87 


it will be strewed along the way, to the obstruction and damming up 
of the channel, the elevation of the river bed, and the increase of 
flood heights, necessarily resulting in increase of levee heights until 
the river will fall over into the fields.” 

His first deduction from these facts is that we have taken possession 
of the alluvial valley of the Mississippi prematurely; that it is an 
unfinished part of the world, not ready for human occupation. The 
first logical deduction from this view—which, however, he does not 
state—is that the thing for us to do is to move out and let the river 
have undisturbed possession for a few million years. The second— 
which also he does not state—is that a convention of divines—the} 7- 
ought to be thoroughly orthodox, so as to be able to tinker with the 
Scriptures by authority—ought to be called to give us a new reading 
of the Book of Genesis. The passage I have quoted should be amended 
to read: “ Subdue the earth, except the Mississippi Valley below 
Cairo; that is reserved until further orders.” 

This same writer assumes, however, that it is not in the nature of 
men who live under the Stars and Stripes to give up a fight in that way, 
and he proceeds to recommend an elaborate system of outlets as the 
only solution of the problem. 

It is not strange that in the face of the tremendous cost, difficulty, 
and hazards involved in the levee system men should look anxiously 
in all directions for some way out. Nor is it strange that in this search 
a man’s first thought should be outlets to let off the surplus water by 
some shorter route to the sea. What could be more obvious? 

This could be done with immediate advantage in lowering flood 
heights in some parts of the river. An outlet could be made across 
the narrow space which separates the river from Lake Pontchartrain 
above this city, which would immediately lower the flood line through 
this city a foot or two or more, according to the capacity of the outlet. 
As many more as you like could be made through the west bank 
between this city and Red River, to discharge into and across the 
Atchafalaya Basin. The whole river could probably be diverted from 
its present channel in that way. 

But such outflows would be attended by consequences which a pru¬ 
dent man is bound to consider. As I have already stated, the capacity 
of the water of the Mississippi to carry sediment depends on the 
velocity of its flow. If you turn it out into a quiet field it quickly 
drops its load. If we should make an outlet into a shallow place like 
Lake Pontchartrain it would soon be filled up; bars would appear above 
the surface; willows would take possession of them; the whole area 
would become a marsh intersected by tortuous channels. This is what 
would take place if the outlet were made to allow the discharge of a 
relatively small part of the whole volume of the river. The obstacles 
which the outlet would thus speedily build up in its own path would 
rapidly diminish its capacity and its usefulness.. 

In the meantime the river below the outlet, weakened by the reduc 
tion of its volume, would have less power to transport sediment than 
it had before; not merety less total power, but less power relativelv 
to its load. As a result, the deposit of sediment would increase fiom 
the outlet to the sea, to the impairment of the discharging capacity of 
the channel and the gradual restoration of the flood heights which pre 
vailed before the outlet was made. The river has tried this experi¬ 
ment itself. There are many depressions in its banks which mark 


88 


IMPROVEMENT OE THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


former channels of outflow which have been choked up by the luxu¬ 
riant growth that takes possession of all vacant spots in this valley, so 
that they have ceased to discharge any considerable volume of water. 
At the passes it divides into a number of channels which lead out to 
the Gulf. To that point the river is deep. From that point out the 
channels are shallow. If all the passes were shut up but one, that 
would soon become a deep channel. But it would not last. It would 
proceed to build a bar at its mouth and then cut a multiplicity of chan¬ 
nels through it, exactly as it did when it made the present ones. 

If these results of subdividing a channel would be remote, so that 
the relief obtained by an outlet would last a long time, say half a cen¬ 
tury, and the injury to the channel below postponed for a like time, 
it would be worth while, in my opinion, to consider the subject. But 
that is not the case. These actions are rapid. I have known vertical 
fills of from 20 to 30 feet to be produced in two or three seasons by 
contraction works in Blum Point and Lake Providence reaches. The 
consequences which I have described would follow in very few years. 

There is a kind of outlet which might be employed on the lower 
part of the river with advantage, in my opinion. It would be an out¬ 
let to take off a carefully controlled discharge from the very top of an 
extreme flood and no more. Its construction would be something like 
this: We could cut a notch in the bank to a line say 1 foot below 
the surface of an extreme flood, such as we had last spring. It should 
be, I should say, a mile or 2 miles wide. The bank in front should 
be securely revetted. The surface of the gap for 1,000 feet or more, 
if necessary, from the margin should be paved with stone. An ade¬ 
quate path for the outflow should be opened to the lowlands, where 
there would be ample discharge for the water to the sea through 
bayous or swamps. 

Such an opening would not be an outlet in the ordinary sense of the 
word. It would take no water from the river except at extreme high 
stages, and then from the very top of the stream. I should call it 
a “ spillway” or “wasteweir” rather than an outlet. Three such 
spillways between Red River and New Orleans would reduce flood 
heights at this city very materially. They would be followed by the 
ordinary effect of an ordinary outlet on the channel below them in 
some degree. They might make necessary some additional work at 
the mouth of the river to preserve the channel depth there. But these 
results would develop slowly and could be seen coming in time to pre¬ 
vent them by diminution or closure of the spillways. They would be 
costly not only to construct, but to maintain. The water would flow 
through them only at intervals—sometimes of a number of years. 
The pathways leading from them would have to be kept clear by con¬ 
stant attention. The activity of nature’s forces in this region is such 
that they would completely choke up such a path with rank growth in 
a single season of neglect. 

The construction of such spillways would be practicable at points 
below Red River. Above that hardly so, although one can imagine 
the closure of Old River at two places and the cutting of a channel 
down the Tensas across Old River between its two dams into the 
Atchafalaya Basin as an outlet for spillways above the Red. 

But all such schemes have no practical value at this time. The out¬ 
let theory as usualty held, which proposes lateral channels taking off 
water at ordinary or ordinarily high stages, is a delusion. I deny that 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


89 


it is in accord with the river’s own methods and suggestions. If it 
were, the river would have made for itself a plurality of channels ages 
ago. It has had time enough and room enough. All the space from 
bluft to bluff has been its. It has wallowed over that space from side 
to side again and again. The fact that it has made itself one great 
channel, and only one, when it could have made a dozen is conclusive 
evidence that the law of its existence, the expression of its most 
effective energy, is concentration, not division. Only in the hour of 
its death, when its life as a river ends in the embrace of the sea, does 
it break into subdivided channels. 

Its overflows mark the limitations of its natural energy. It over¬ 
tops its banks to-day because it has not been able in the past to make 
itself a channel large enough to hold its floods. The levees supply 
what it has endeavored in vain to create for itself—banks to hold its 
floods. That they will introduce a great change in its regimen is 
proved. But they are not a contradiction of the natural tendencies of 
its own foTces; on the contrary, they are in aid of them. 

The question what is to become of the sediment which the river has 
heretofore deposited in the basins by its overflows is one to be thought 
of. I have thought of it long, whether with sound conclusions or not 
I do not know. But what I think is this: Very little of the sediment 
which enters the channel at Cairo goes to the Gulf by a single journey, 
or ever will. The river lays down its load and picks it up again over 
and over; scours in the bends and deposits at the crossings. It gets 
its freight to destination by many short hauls. The complete restraint 
of floods will increase the quantity of sediment to be transported in 
the channel. But the increase in the volume of the water will increase 
its carrying power in a greater ratio. The amount of sediment received 
at the upper end will not be increased, but the amount discharged at 
the lower end will be. The river will have more power than ever 
before, and will do more work. It will shift its bars downstream 
more rapidly, and in doing this it may develop new obstructions to 
navigation in the lower river and at the jetties. But none of these 
will be serious beyond practicable remedy. 

I have been gravely informed a hundred times by persons who knew 
nothing about the subject that it was futile to attempt to prevent over¬ 
flow by levees, because the effect of the concentration of the flood dis¬ 
charge is necessarily to raise the bottom of the river as fast as the tops 
of the levees are raised. I have often wondered how so many people 
get hold of that idea who have so few others. But a belief so widely 
entertained deserves consideration, and the fact, if it be one, is so 
important that the Mississippi River Commission has taken pains, by 
the application of all tests within its power, to get at the truth upon 
the subject. 

One of the duties imposed on the Commission by the law b}- which it 
was created was to make a complete survey of the river. This has 
been done with the greatest care. 

First, the river was fenced in with a series of triangulation lines, by 
which basal lines were fixed along its banks with the nicest accuracy. 
Then permanent bench marks were established on lines crossing the 
river every 3 miles, two bench marks on each side in each line. 
These were connected with the triangulation stations. Then soundings 
were taken on lines crossing the river at intervals of about a quarter 
of a mile, and numbering about 75 soundings to each line. All these 


90 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


were referred to and connected with the bench marks. The results 
were embodied in maps, and records preserved in the office of the Com 
mission. It was thus made possible to reproduce the river in every 
detail—every bank, bar, elevation, and depth—with photographic 
exactness, a*t any time in the future. This work was begun at the 
mouth of the river and completed to Cairo during the 3 T ears 1881,1882, 
and 1883. In 1895 and 1896 a resurvey was made of that part of the 
river lying between White River and Donaldsonville, La., a distance 
of 472 miles. Between those points the levees had been, not com¬ 
pletely, but comparatively effective in confining the floods during the 
interim. The work was done by the same methods followed in the first 
. surve}7, improved in point of exactness as far as possible. These two 
surveys afforded a basis of comparison, which, for the first time in the 
history of the Mississippi River or any other, so far as I know, fur¬ 
nished something approaching exact information on this subject. This 
comparison disclosed many local changes in the bed of the river. Bars 
and pools had moved downstream in many places, so that at the point 
where a bar was found twenty r j^ears ago there would be a deep pool, 
and vice versa. But as a whole there had been little change in the 
elevation or capacity of the channel, but that little was in the direction 
of deepening and enlargement, and not in the direction of filling up. 

There is another fact which throws light on the question. It is 
this: A comparison of low-water elevation in reaches of the river which 
have been leveed for a number of years with efficiency enough to con¬ 
trol the floods in substantial degree as they existed before the con¬ 
struction of the levees, and as they have existed since the construction 
of levees, shows that in those parts of the river the low-water plane 
has fallen. The evidence of that fact is as follows: No influence of 
levees has extended to Cairo to affect the low-water elevation there. 
At points below, where the floods have been confined b\^ levees, some¬ 
thing has affected the low-water plane to depress it below that at Cairo. 
If we take a series of low-water gauge readings from Cairo down, 
extending over several years before the building of the levees, and 
plot a line from them representing the average surface of the low 
water during that time, and then take another series from the same 
gauge extending over an equal number of years after the building of 
the levees along that part of the river, and plot an average low-water 
line by those readings, we find that where the levees were effective to 
confine the floods within the channel during the second period, the 
second low-water line sags below the first one. That means that in 
those parts of the river the low-water plane has fallen below its former 
elevation, and that signifies, it appears to me, that the bed of the river 
has been depressed to that extent. 

I do not know that I can call these facts demonstrations. There 
are so many things that enter into the behavior of the Mississippi River 
that it is hard to make two sets of observations in which all the condi¬ 
tions shall be the same. But they are valid arguments. They tend to 
prove that the increase of the flood discharge within the banks by 
means of levees does not operate to fill up the bed, but, on the contrary, 
tends to scour it out. 

I have long held this view from purely theoretical considerations, 
which I will briefly state. It is true that torrential streams flowing 
down steep slopes into flatter ones tend to fill up tbeir own beds. The 
higher velocity in the upper reaches of the stream brings down heavy 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


91 


material in the form of pebbles and sand, which the less velocity of the 
lower reaches is unable to transport. This heavier material, therefore, 
accumulates in the bed. The Mississippi River below Cairo is not such 
a stream. Its slopes do diminish downwardly, but very slightly. The 
levees do not, and will not, increase materially that variation of slope. 
They will not increase the flood slope as a whole. The floods will start 
at Cairo with the same, or substantially the same, elevation that they 
had before, and they will end in the same sea level. The water will 
have a higher velocity than it had before, because of its greater depth. 

Under conditions existing heretofore it is the lighter rather than 
the heavier parts of the sediment that go over the bank in great floods. 
After complete levee closure there will be very little more heavy 
material to be moved than there was before, and there will be more 
power to move it. I suppose that, in strict sense, there is a little 
accumulation of material going on in the bed now, and always has 
been. In the process of filling up the Mississippi Gulf the fill began 
at the bottom, and since it reached sea level the river has risen with 
the land to its present elevation. But these are geological processes 
as slow as the erosion of mountains. 1 do not believe that if the 
levees were held intact from now on against all floods any elevation of 
the bed sufficient to be injurious would take place in hundreds of years. 

I am aware of what is said about the Chinese rivers and their levees; 
of the extent to which they have been elevated, and the crevasses that 
have occurred and the loss of life that has been caused by them. But 
I do not know the facts in regard to these rivers which are necessary 
to make a comparison with the Mississippi and its levees—the soil, 
slope, depth, and other factors that affect the question. But the fact 
that those levees are, as I suppose, thousands of years old, is enough 
for me. In planning such works as these I believe in looking ahead, 
but not too far ahead. I reject outlets for the reason, among others, 
that such usefulness as they might have would be short lived, and I 
think that in such a matter twenty-five years is a short time. I am 
not afraid of filling up the channel in consequence of levees, because I 
do not believe that any injurious result in that direction would follow 
within hundreds of years, and that is far enough for me to look ahead. 

To Overcome Legislative Difficulties. 

[By Hon. James H. Berry, United States Senator from Arkansas.] 


Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention, I would be insen¬ 
sible to all that man holds most dear if I did not greatly appreciate 
the kind words uttered by your chairman. I came to this convention 
to receive and not to give instruction. 1 came here believing that the 
people who reside along the banks of the great Mississippi knew better 
than all others their needs and their demands, and to receive instruc¬ 
tion at their hands and try with all the power that I have to carry out 
their will. I am not here to-day to discuss the importance of leveeing 
the Mississippi River. It is unnecessary that I should. There is no 
delegate to this convention who does not know that in a financial and 
commercial way there is no question which can or will come before the 
Congress of the United States which interests so many people in the 
Soufh as that of leveeing the Mississippi River. 

Of course, my fellow-citizens, I do not wish to be misunderstood in 


92 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


saying that, because there are great questions which may come up 
affecting our political and social condition which rise high and far 
above every money consideration whatever. I do not allude to that. 
But 1 believe that more benefit will come to more people in the South 
from the leveeing of the Mississippi River than from any other project 
that it is possible to bring before the Government. 

I want to say this, also, that I think the great object and purpose of 
this convention should be that each delegate should constitute himself 
a committee of one to try and convince the Congress of the United 
States that in appropriating this money for the leveeing of this great 
river they are serving the entire United States, and that it is not local 
to the South alone. I take it that these Southern delegates here to-day 
want no special privileges. They do not want this Government of 
ours to give anything to them that they won’t concede to our brothers 
in every State of this Union. In asking the Government to give us 
aid for the leveeing of this great river 1 do not think that we are 
asking any special favors or special privileges. While, of course, 
great benefits will come to the people of the Southern States, }^et 
there is not a State or Territory in this Union that will not be bene¬ 
fited by this appropriation. This is a national affair. This river 
touches the interests of everybod}^ in every State throughout this 
land. Therefore, we ask nothing except that which I think we are 
entitled to have. In the distribution of the millions of dollars that 
are appropriated annually by this great Government, of course it is 
impossible that there could be anything like an equitable distribution 
in its expenditures throughout the entire nation. I want to say that 
of all the supply bills and the millions of dollars that go out annually, 
there is but one bill, and that is the rivers and harbors bill, under 
which the people of the South get anything that approaches an equit¬ 
able distribution in the expenses. You take the great pension bill, 
which carries above $150,000,000. There is but a small portion of it 
that comes South. You take the millions that are expended on the 
construction of naval vessels; you take the supplies for the Army and 
Navy. There is very little of that mone}^ that comes South. You 
take the great sundry bill, carrying millions of dollars, including the 
Light-House Service and various matters, and a comparatively small 
part of it is ever expended in the South. Under the fortification bill, 
under every other bill, it is the same. 

Now, gentlemen, understand that we are not complaining of this 
condition. It is a condition that can not be avoided. We have no 
right to complain. But I say that in answer to the proposition that is 
so often urged before Congress, that this money for the Mississippi 
River is sirnpty being taken out of the Treasury of the United States 
for the benefit of the South alone. All that we ask in the distribution 
of this money and on other questions is fair play. But it ‘has often 
been said that the South has not been fairly treated, even under the 
rivers and harbors bill, for reasons of local prejudice. I want to say 
that that is not true. I have been for twelve years on the Committee 
on Commerce in the United States Senate, and I have never seen any 
disposition whatever in a single member of that committee to discrim¬ 
inate against the South. Although Senator Frye and myself seldom 
agree upon any proposition that comes before the United States Senate, 
yet no truer friend to the people of the Mississippi Valley has ever 
served on that committee than its chairman, Senator William P. Frye. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


93 


I remember one time, when there was a great emergency, a million 
dollars was secured by his efforts, without which it could not have 
been secured. I was glad to hear that Judge Blanchard made this 
same statement last night. 

Now, my fellow-citizens, I want to say another thing. I think some¬ 
times our own people do not always appreciate the difficulties with 
which delegates in Congress have to contend. 

One of these difficulties was alluded to by our chairman yesterday 
morning, and that is, that we have in our own midst a number of men 
who do not believe in the levee system, who contend that the outlet 
system affords the only true remedy, and who have practically opposed 
us in the past. For a number of years heretofore, whenever the rivers 
and harbors bill came up, were confronted by some Member of 
Congress with some editorial from some newspaper saying that the 
levee system was a failure, and must be abandoned. Then we had to 
go to work and explain the best we could. That was one of the diffi¬ 
culties that confronted us always. Another difficulty was that 
Senators and Members representing the arid States of this Union 
always insisted that if we used Government money to levee the 
Mississippi River, that they were equally entitled to have Government 
money' to build reservoirs to irrigate their land; or, to put it as they 
put it, if we had the power to appropriate money to keep water off 
the land, we had the same power to appropriate to put it on the land. 
But during the last session of Congress a bill was passed appropriating 
the entire proceeds of the sales of public lands in the arid States for 
the building of reservoirs in that section to irrigate those lands. Now 
those people are silenced, and J hope silenced forever, and I trust the 
time will never come again when a Tom Carter will arise to kill the 
rivers and harbors bill, to the great detriment and injury of the 
people. 

There is another difficulty which has always confronted us, and it is 
the most serious of all—a difficulty which confronts us still. There 
are a large number of members of Congress in both Houses who have 
always insisted that the Congress of the United States, under the 
Constitution, had no power to appropriate money to protect private 
property. 

I want to say to-day that every dollar that has ever been appropriated 
for levees on the Mississippi River has been appropriated upon the 
theory that it would benefit navigation, and we never dared to put it 
on the ground, up to this day, that it would benefit private landowners, 
though we knew, of course, that this was incidental to it. 

But it seems to me, my fellow-citizens, that if we can appropriate 
public money to irrigate the lands in the Dakotas, Idaho, and Wyo¬ 
ming, that we ought to be able to appropriate it to protect from inun¬ 
dation the land of the Mississippi Valley. It occurs to me that what¬ 
ever may have been the intention of those who made the Constitution 
of the United States, that this Government has so often and in so many 
cases appropriated public money for private purposes that the question 
has ceased to be a practical one." As far back as 1848 money was appro¬ 
priated by the United States Government for the relief of the sufferers 
in Ireland. Only last year, I think, $1,000,000 was appropriated for 
the sufferers in the island of Martinique, a French province. We have 
appropriated money from time to time to pay for the elimination of 
diseases among cattle in Illinois and other States. 


94 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


We have appropriated money for every conceivable private purpose 
of which you can think, and, in addition to that, as our chairman said 
yesterday, we are appropriating millions of dollars to-day to hold in 
subjection 8,000,000 or 10,000,000 people 8,000 miles away, under the 
false idea, 1 think, that it is necessary in order to civilize and Chris¬ 
tianize them. If we can do that, 1113" fellow-citizens, I think we can 
appropriate money to protect the people of the Mississippi Valley, who 
are already civilized and Christianized. [Applause.] 

Now, these are the difficulties that we have had, but there are other 
difficulties which come in connection with the framing of a rivers and 
harbors bill. 

This appropriation for the Mississippi Valle3^ has always been done 
under the rivers and harbors bill, but while it has its objections in that 
wa3 T , I want to say to this convention.that, in my candid judgment, if 
we ever undertake to cut loose from the rivers and harbors bill and 
try to pass a separate and direct appropriation to protect the lands 
along the Mississippi River, to do that, and that only, in my judgment 
, we will fail. 

I know what we would like to do, but I think the gentleman from 
Ohio yesterda3^ gave us some idea of what we have to expect. If we 
should undertake to pass a bill alone distinct from the rivers and har¬ 
bors bill, we would be met by the citizens of the Ohio Valle3 7 in Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Kentuc^ with the statement that they, 
too, must have/ levee protection, and all the farmers living along the 
banks throughout the upper Missouri would come forward sa3 r ing, 
“We can not permit that bill to pass unless our people are protected 
along the banks of the Missouri.” We would have them from a hun¬ 
dred other rivers in the United States, and if we voted down their 
amendments they would vote down our bill. 

Therefore, whether the idea prevails for Government control or 
whether it does not, that is disconnected with this question. In my 
candid opinion, the only way to get anj- appropriation for our levees 
is to get it under the rivers and harbors bill, because when that bill is 
once reported there are so many members of Congress interested in so 
many provisions of it that the3 T have never been able to cut off the 
appropriation accorded the members for the Mississippi River. 

These questions are the ones that have confronted us. As to whether 
in the future it is best to let the Government have control and charge 
of that great river, that is a question which we will meet, and better 
meet, when the proper time comes. To-da3^ we want to stand united, 
act as a body and as one mind. To-day what we want is to increase 
the amount of the appropriation for levees for the Mississippi River. 

Now that is all important. If we can get $2,000,000 more for the 
leveeing of the Mississippi River for next year it means much to the 
people of this great valley. We want to go forth from this conven¬ 
tion as one man to every local^ where the Mississippi River touches 
and bring to bear every possible legitimate influence and pressure that 
can be brought to bear upon members of Congress, and say if this 
Congress will give us $2,000,000 recommended b3^ Mississippi River 
Commission at once, we will look after the balance of the money 
hereafter. That is what 1 call practical. I do not want this conven¬ 
tion to go off on a question of Government control. I want mone3^ 
for the Mississippi River, and I want it from the General Government, 
and I want it bad, and I want it right now. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


95 


Now, I think that I have said all that is necessary to say. In stat¬ 
ing* these objections and these difficulties I hope no one will misunder¬ 
stand me to say that it is I who raised these objections. They are 
objections that we have been compelled, and will be compelled in the 
future, to answer. 

If it be permitted for me to speak of m} r self, I want to sa} T that I 
have devoted more time and more labor to trying to secure money for 
the leveeing of the Mississippi River than for all other questions that 
I have ever considered since I have been in the Congress of the United 
States, and my hope has been and is that 1 may live to see the levees 
built so high, and so strong, and so permanent that every foot of land 
on both sides of the river will be made absolutely secure from overflow. 

When I think of these objections that we have got to meet I think 
that this convention here is going to have a great influence. If we 
can secure the united cooperation of the States that lie along, or even 
touch the river, to say nothing of its tributaries; if we can get the 
influence of the delegation from Iowa, from Missouri, from Illinois, 
from Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas—if 
we can get that, and then my friend from Ohio will bring his Ohio 
delegation, including Mr. Burton of Cleveland, 1 promise you we will 
get the $2,000,000, as I believe. 

I have been greatly gratified at the large attendance at this conven¬ 
tion. 1 have been delighted with the able speeches that have been 
made by gentlemen of the convention. But while this will have great 
influence, we will not stop here. 

Congress is soon to reassemble. The question whether we will have 
a rivers and harbors bill is being raised. Therefore we want to unite 
every influence to overcome those objections and set aside, if it may be, 
those difficulties. They are great, my fellow-citizens. The difficul¬ 
ties which have confronted the South in the past have been great, and 
they remain great; but they* are not obstacles which can not be sur¬ 
mounted. The South has met greater difficulties in the past and sur¬ 
vived them. We came back in 1865 confronted by desolation every¬ 
where. Our negroes were freed; our farms were destroyed; we were 
without stock and without farming utensils; we were without mone}^ and 
without credit. Desolation was in every part of the South, and in 
many places lone chimneys marked the places where had been peace¬ 
able and happy homes. My fellow-citizens, we went to work and 
built up these waste places. If we have not accomplished all that we 
hoped for, we have shown to the world that difficulties can not daunt 
us and misfortune can not overwhelm us. As it was said, and well said, 
by our chairman, we have no excuses to offer for the past. We have 
never seen the day or the hour when we regretted what we had done. 
We did that which we conceived to be our duty in the sight of God, 
and we stand by it. But while I say that, 1 say to those delegates 
from the Northern States to-day we have but one country and one 
flag. It is our country and our flag, and we hold him the truest 
patriot and the most deserving of his fellow-men who contributes 
most to the honor and glory of our common country. [Great applause.] 

New York’s Dependence upon the Valley’s Prosperity. 

[By Hon. Charles S. Fairchild, ex-Secretary of the United States Treasury Department.] 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the convention, you have heard 
the case stated amply and abty from many men since you have been 


96 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


in this city. 1 am sure that all of us who have listened to the argu¬ 
ments and statistics here are profoundly impressed with the greatness 
of this question and with its vital importance to our great country as 
a whole. [Applause.] I, as one not familiar with this question when 
I came here, feel that as a citizen of the United States I have gained 
great benefit, and I am sure that from this convention will grow out 
great benefits in an educational way to the countiy at large. 

Just see how our interests are bound together and why we should 
contribute one to the other. A week ago I was at my country home, 
which is in the State of New York, a little east of where you see Lake 
Ontario on that map. From the hills around my home the waters flow 
to the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, and the Susquehanna. A little west 
of where I live, and almost in sight of my house, the waters flow to 
the Mississippi. Therefore, in a sense, we at my home are contributors 
to your injuries, and so far as we are contributors to your injuries, 
certainty we are in honor bound to do what we can to repair them. 
[Great applause.] 

We also in our great State of New York and in our great city of 
New York are immensely dependent upon your prosperity here. We 
study with great care and with great interest, and sometimes with 
great anxiety, the condition of your cotton crop. We wish to know 
every 3 T ear what your fertile lands are to contribute toward our balance 
of trade, and when we see a bad condition here in regard to your great 
crops we know that it threatens bad conditions to us in regard to all 
our interests. Therefore we are bound to contribute to you, because 
you contribute to us. [Applause.] 

I am sure that wherever this question is understood, that wherever 
a man is actuated by unselfish patriotism, he wishes to see this great 
valley of the Mississippi cared for in the best way possible. [Applause.] 
What that is it is for the experts to say, but whatever the experts agree 
upon, that we should all stand behind and promote. [Applause.] I 
was vastly interested and instructed by that luminous paper which 
Judge Taylor read to-day, and I felt when listening to him that I was 
entitled to a little of your gratitude. Some months ago Judge Ttyylor 
was very ill, and I had a letter from a newspaper in Indiana telling me 
that he was very ill, and knowing that I knew Judge Taylor so well 
and had been associated with him in very important affairs, they asked 
me to write my opinion of Judge Taylor in order that it might be pub¬ 
lished with his obituary. [Laughter.] I said: “No, no; I will not 
give Judge Taylor up yet,” and I tell you I believe that through the 
mind cure I contributed to his recovery [applause], and in doing so I 
have contributed to the well-being of my country, I am sure. 
[Applause.] 

Now, gentlemen, the Federal Government, as I have said, is doing 
much in all directions. It now has taken up the subject of irrigation, 
giving as an excuse for the expenditure of that amount of money the 
benefit to the property of the United States which belongs to it specifi¬ 
cally, and also giving as a reason the great benefits that will come to 
the country from the great power of the Federal Government taking 
hold and promoting the general interests by apparently promoting 
some rather local and peculiar interests. But our Government did the 
same thing in other ways long before. It gave up its lands to help 
build the great transcontinental railway, in order that our whole 
country might receive benefit therefrom'. It has done various other 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


97 


things, and this which it has done and is doing and will be called upon 
to do with regard to the great Mississippi River stands, in my opinion, 
on as high a ground, if not higher, than any of the other causes which 
have called for its assistance. [Great applause.] 

We are spending, as you have heard, vast sums of money to extend 
the power and empire of our country over the world; we are going to 
expend great sums of mone}^ in building the Isthmian Canal, and yet 
it seems to me that the benefits that are to come from making perfectly 
secure and at the disposal of the countiy this great Mississippi Valley 
outweigh in importance any of the subjects that I have mentioned. 
[Applause.] 

I came here not to advocate plans, not to take part in your delibera¬ 
tions from the point of a person thoroughly understanding the tech¬ 
nicalities of this subject. I was in the presence of too much knowledge 
and too much skill to permit me to do that. 1 simply came here to 
express my good will and hearty sympathy as a citizen of this great 
country and a person interested in every way in her prosperity and 
development. [Applause.] That I give to this Mississippi Levee 
Convention, and I thank you, gentlemen, for having permitted me to 
be one of so important and so patriotic a body as this which I see 
before me. [Great applause.] 

National Scope of the Mississippi Problem. 

[By Richard H. Edmonds.] 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the convention, the Mississippi 
River is our greatest national economic problem. Recall the facts 
which influenced Thomas Jefferson to further the purchase of Louisi¬ 
ana one hundred years ago, and we are impressed with the importance 
of the Mississippi as a factor in making this nation. Had not Jeffer¬ 
son permitted practical statesmanship to override political theory this 
river might have been the western boundary of the United States, 
with the territory between it and the Pacific occupied by a people hostile 
to American institutions, and able to levy at the New Orleans outlet 
burdens even more grievous than those which have been imposed 
through national neglect in failing to render the navigation of the 
river to the Gulf safe and sure, and to protect millions of persons and 
hundreds of millions of property from disastrous overflows. 

The people of the whole country are inclined to think of the Missis¬ 
sippi River problem as a purely local matter in wdiich only a few 
southern States are directly interested, and a few western States 
indirectly. They are inclined to forget that to the vast coal and iron 
interests of Pittsburg, to the oil regions of West Virginia, and to the 
grain fields of the far West and Northwest, the proper improvement 
of the Mississippi River is alike of vital concern. This vast river, 
draining the richest territory of earth, is the nation’s heritage, not 
the South’s nor the West’s, and its control is the nation’s responsibility. 
That it should ever have been regarded as a State, or even as a sec¬ 
tional, problem is incomprehensible. 

National from the earliest days of the Republic, the Mississippi is 
more national to-dav than ever before, and with the eventual opening 
of a waterway through the Isthmus it is destined to become still more 
national. Fifty years ago Matthew F. Maury, the great pioneer of 

S. Doc. 245, 58-2-7 


98 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


American expansion through the application of science to wind and 
waves, pathfinder of the seas, prophet of the submarine cable, planner 
of the Weather Bureau, firm believer in a great navy and a great com¬ 
mercial marine, standing midway between the time when, as he 
expressed it, “the free navigation of the Mississippi River was a 
question of deep and absorbing political interest to us,” and the 
present time, when the safe navigation of the Mississippi is a question 
of vital economic interest to us, vividly sketched the situation. 

“The Mississippi,” said he, “takes its rise near the parallel of 50° 
north latitude, where the climates are suited to the growth of barley, 
wheat, and the hardy cereal grains. The river runs south, crossing 
parallels of latitude, and changing with every mile its climate and the 
character or qualit}^of the great agricultural staples which are pro¬ 
duced on its banks. 

“Having left behind it the regions for peltries, wheat, and corn, for 
hemp and tobacco, for pulse, apples, whisky, oil, and cotton, and 
having crossed the pastoral lands for hogs, horses, and cattle, it 
reaches, near the latitude of 30°, the northern verge of the sugar 
cane. 

“ Thence expanding into the Gulf, with all these staples upon its 
bosom, to be exchanged for the produce of other climes and latitudes, 
it passes on to Key West and the Tortugas, and there at that com¬ 
mercial gateway of the ocean, which opens out upon the Tropic of 
Cancer, it delivers up to the winds and the waves of the sea for the 
distant markets the fruits of its teeming soil and multitudinous climes. 

“ From the Gulf of Mexico all the great commercial markets of the 
world are downhill. A vessel bound from the Gulf to Europe places 
herself in the current of the Gulf Stream and drifts along with it 
at the rate, for part of the way, of 80 to 100 miles a day. If her 
destination be Rio, or India, or California, her course is the same as 
far north as the Island of Bermuda. 

“ And when there shall be established a commercial thoroughfare 
across the' Isthmus the trade winds of the Pacific will place China, 
India, and all the islands of that ocean downhill also from this sea of 
ours. In that case the whole of Europe must pass by our very doors on 
the great highwa} 7 to the markets both of the East and West Indies.” 

Again and again Maury dwelt upon the Mississippi as a most potent 
factor in the commerce of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, 
which he christened “ The Mediterranean of the West,” and the neces¬ 
sity for the energies of the United States in commerce to find an out¬ 
let across the Isthmus. In a spirit of prophecy he said: 

“From all this we are led to the conclusion that the time is rapidly 
approaching, if it has not already arrived, when the Atlantic and Pacific 
must join hands across the Isthmus. We have shown that there is no 
sea in the world which is possessed of such importance as this southern 
sea of ours; that with its succession of harvests there is from some one 
or other of its river basins a crop always on the way to market; that 
it has for back country a continent at the north and another at the 
south, and a world both to the east and the west. We have shown how 
it is contiguous to the two first and convenient to them all. The three 
great outlets of commerce, the Delta of the Mississippi, the mouths of 
the Hudson and the Amazon, are all within 2,000 miles—ten days’ 
sail—of Darien. It is a barrier that separates us from the markets of 
600,000,000 people—three-fourths of the population of the earth. 
Break it down, therefore, and this country is placed midway between 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


99 


Europe and Asia; this sea becomes the center of the world and the 
focus of the world’s commerce. This is a highway that will give vent 
to commerce, scope to energy, and range to enterprise, which in a few 
years hence will make gay with steam and canvas parts of the ocean that 
are now unfrequented and almost unknown. Old channels of trade 
will be broken up and new ones opened. We desire to see our own 
country the standard bearer in this great work.” 

Maury recognized, too, from the standpoint of the practical scientist, 
what the dwellers in the lower Mississippi Valley had a right to expect 
from the people of the whole country. He said: 

“The drowned lands of the Mississippi Valley have been ceded to 
the States in which the} T lie, upon the condition that those States in 
reclaiming them will confine the river within its banks. 

“The reclamation of these lands would improve the climate of a 
vast region of country and make it much more salubrious; it would 
add vastty to the wealth of those States by giving value to the lands, 
and greatly increase their commercial resources by bringing immense 
regions of these vacant lands under cultivation, and it would also 
vastly improve the navigation of the river. 

“An object of so much importance to the health and prosperity of 
so many people in so many States is certainly worth looking after, 
and the work, when done, should be done in the most thorough and 
effective manner. 

“ Therefore, let us pray Congress for the appointment of an engineer 
who shall plan the work, and for the enactment of a statute requiring 
the States to have the work done according to that plan. 

“This work is to last for all time. Suppose, therefore, merety for 
the sake of an illustration, that one of the States above Louisiana 
should be unfortunate in the adoption of a plan; that after having let 
the work, accepted it and parted with the lands, experience should 
prove the plan to be bad or the work to be useless. Louisiana, then, 
is overflowed in spite of herself, and her works, which we will sup¬ 
pose were realty sufficient, are thus in danger of being rendered of no 
avail. 

“The prosperity of the valley is to be greatly affected by this work 
of embankment, drainage, and reclamation, and therefore the best 
talents that the country affords should be employed to direct it.” 

These things were said when the total population of the United 
States was but 23,000,000, the value of our agricultural products but 
$1,326,700,000, and the value of our manufactured products $1,013,- 
340,000. These truths have become more telling with the passing 
years, and are emphasized by the facts of to-day. Using, for pur¬ 
poses of uniformity, the figures for the year 1900, although later ones 
in some lines are available, what is the situation ? 

The Mississippi drains an area of 1,250,000 square miles, equal to 41 per 
cent of the land surface of the United States. Its waters and its tributa¬ 
ries drain the whole of 10 and parts of 22 States and Territories, having 
a combined land area of 2,107,550 square miles, or more than 70 per 
cent of the total of the country. The shortest description of this area 
may be given by naming the areas not included in it in whole or in 
part. These are New England, New Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina, 
Florida, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Wash¬ 
ington, all of which, however, depend or will depend for their pros¬ 
perity upon the prosperity of the States in touch with the Mississippi. 

In the great area embraced within the 32 States drained in whole or 


100 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


in part by the Mississippi and its tributaries there is a population of 
62,166,099, nearly 82 per cent of the total population of the country; 
there are 374,313,897 acres of improved lands, or 90 per cent of the 
total improved acreage of the country, and 162,506 miles of railroad, 
or 83 per cent of the total. In the last census year this area produced 
$4,154,233,789 from agriculture, or 88 per cent of the total for the 
whole country, and $9,850,075,296 in manufactures, or 75 per cent of 
the total. The value of its agricultural products was more than three 
times the value of the total for the United States in 1850, and the 
value of its manufactured products more than nine times the value 
for the country in 1850. 

It is true that the greater portion of several States, such as New 
York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
Texas, and Michigan, lie outside the actual drainage basin of the Mis¬ 
sissippi, but the fact does not in any way lessen the supreme impor¬ 
tance to these States as a whole of this great question. If we would 
rightly measure the importance of the Mississippi River problem, we 
must rightly comprehend the magnitude of the interests involved, 
present and to come. In this vast territory directly concerned in the 
proper handling of the Mississippi River—a territory of over 2,000,000 
square miles of land surface—the total production in the last census 
year was, of wheat 571,701,154 bushels, or 85 per cent of the total for 
the whole countr} T ; of corn 2,617,409,198 bushels, or 98 per cent of the 
total; of cotton 8,591,391 bales, or 90 per cent of the total; of tobacco 
823,247,901 pounds, or 94 per cent of the total; of hay and forage 
71,152,786 tons, or 84 per cent of the total; of coal 266,150,899 short 
tons, or 98 per cent of the total; of iron ore 27,177,729 long tons, or 
98 per cent of the total; of spelter 115,627 short tons, or 94 per cent 
of the total; of lead 139,835 short tons, or 60 per cent of the total, 
and of petroleum 59,263,220 barrels, or 93 per cent of the total. This 
area, with its preponderating power in agriculture and manufactures, 
produced all the iron ore of the country except the 31,185 tons of 
Connecticut and Massachusetts, 334,247 tons of New Jersey, and a bit 
of Nevada and Utah; all of the petroleum except the 4,099,484 barrels 
of California and all of the coal except the 2,474,093 tons of Wash¬ 
ington, 1,147,027 tons of Utah, 171,708 tons of California, 58,864 tons 
of Oregon, and 10 tons of Idaho. 

This showing may be summarized in the following table: 


Population. 

Area. 

Improved acreage 
Timber acreage... 
Railroad mileage. 
Farm products ... 

Manufactures_ 

Wheat. 

Com. 

Cotton. 

Tobacco. 

Hay, forage. 

Coal. 

Iron ore. 

Spelter. 

Lead. 

Petroleum.. 


United States. 


Mississippi 

area. 


Percent¬ 
age of 
total in 
in Missis¬ 
sippi 


area. 


.square miles 


bushels 
—do., 
.bales., 
.pounds 
....tons 

_do.. 

_do.. 

_do.. 

....do.. 

.barrels 


75 , 994,575 
2 , 970,230 
' 414 , 498,487 

32 , 222,097 
194,321 
$ 4 , 717 , 069 , 973 
$ 13 , 010 , 036,514 
658 , 534,252 
2 , 666 , 324,370 
9 , 534 , 707 
868 , 112,865 
84 , 010,815 
269 , 881,827 
27 , 553,161 
123,886 
230,090 
63 , 362,704 


62 , 166,099 
2 , 107,550 
374 , 313,897 
23 , 748,801 
162,506 
$ 4 , 154 , 233 , 789 
$ 9 , 850 , 075,296 
571 , 701,154 
2 , 617 , 409,198 
8 , 591,391 
823 , 247,901 
71 , 152,786 
266 . 150,899 
27 , 177,729 
115,627 
139,835 
59 , 263,220 


82 

70 

90 

73 

83 
88 
75 
85 
98 
90 
94 

84 
98 
98 
94 
60 
93 




























IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 101 

Such is the exhibit of to-day of this vast contributor to the wealth 
of the United States. Is it not sufficient to justify and to insure action 
by the legislative representatives of the people of the United States 
for the accomplishment of a task which the States, acting independently 
or collectively, but without the systematic plan alone possible under 
Federal auspices, can never perform effectively? 

The necessity that this work be done promptly and on the most 
comprehensive plan is pressing to-day. What will it involve if it be 
deferred for another fifty years, in which time, if the population of 
the United States should increase at the rate of the past fifty years, 
we shall number 244,000,000 people? Or let us look at it from another 
standpoint. 

The six New England States, whose wonderful energy and enter¬ 
prise are adding vastly to the national wealth year by year, though 
almost absolutely dependent upon this Mississippi area for the supplies 
of raw material for industry and even for food, have an area of 61,973 
square miles, and a population of 5,592,017, or 90 persons to the 
square mile. But four States touched by Mississippi waters—Maiy- 
land, with 120.5 persons to the square mile; New York, with 152.6; 
Ohio, with 102.2, and Pennsylvania, with 140.1—have a density' equal 
to that of New England. 

When the Mississippi area equals New England in density, as it 
inevitably will, this region will have a population of 189,679,500. It 
would seem a wild dream to anticipate the possibility of this coming 
about within the next half century, and yet so marvelous is the growth 
of our population that even now we shall add in the next ten years a 
population almost equal to that of the whole South at present. With 
nearly 80,000,000 inhabitants now, sure to be at least 100,000,000 ten 
years hence, the mind is staggered as we attempt in sober thought to 
measure the tremendous advance of a nation which is adding 2,000,000 
people to its population every' year, rapidly increasing to still greater 
figures. At the rate of 2,000,000 a year the next half century would 
add 100,000,000 to our population, but we know that instead of 2,000,- 
000 we shall soon be adding 3,000,000 and then 4,000,000 a year. 
Fifty years ago New England, possessing practically none of the 
natural resources yet to be developed in the Mississippi area, had but 
44 persons to. the square mile. 

Most of the lumbering operations, and it is to be hoped most of the 
timber preservation, of the future are to be in the Mississippi area. 
Most of the mineral development is to occur there. The law of the 
arts and sciences seeking to get as close as possible to the raw material 
for industry is to be most thoroughly manifested there. The bulk of 
the railroad building, as far as extension of mileage is concerned, is to 
be done there, and it is not unreasonable to believe that the child of 
to-da}^ will live to see the time when this area will have, instead of 1 
mile of railroad for every 13 square miles of territory, at least 1 mile 
of railroad for every 4.6 square miles of territory, as Ohio now has. 
This would give 458,163 miles, or more than twice the present mileage 
of the whole country. The great proportion of increase in improved 
acreage is to take place in this territory, with the expansion of artifi¬ 
cial irrigation, the enlargement of transportation facilities, and the 
increase in population. With such an increase in population, is it not 
certain that agricultural and manufacturing progress must be propor¬ 
tionately great? If so, then within fifty }^ears this area will annually 


102 IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

produce 1,700,000.000 bushels of wheat, 8,000,000,000 bushels of corn, 
with a total value of all agricultural products of $12,500,000,000, and 
of manufactures of $40,000,000,000, basing these estimates upon the 
present ratio of production to population, even though we know that 
production has been steadily increasing more rapidly than population. 

These estimates may seem extravagant. But are they? We must 
bear in mind that human ingenuity in the invention of labor-saving 
machinery has by no means reached its limit* and that our people have 
only begun to touch the markets of the world outside our own land. 
We have had such prodigal gifts from nature in this country that our 
methods of agriculture are really primitive in comparison with what 
they will be within a few years with the application of science to farm¬ 
ing, with the utilization of wastes, with proper economy in handling 
mineral riches, with the preservation of timber supplies, and with the 
reclamation for agriculture of millions of acres of rich land now in 
bog or swamp. 

Are these estimates as extravagant as would have seemed predic¬ 
tions made twenty years ago of what has been accomplished in 
material advancement in that time? Who would have dared in 1880, 
when our total output of bituminous coal was 42,000,000 tons, to have 
predicted that in 1903 it would be nearly 300,000,000 tons? Who 
would haye dared to predict at that time that the production of pig iron 
of 3,800,000 tons would grow by 1903 to 18,000,000 tons? And yet 
these things have come about. In 1880 the United States had 50,000,000 
inhabitants; we now have 80,000,000, and ten years hence we shall 
have very nearly, if not quite, 100,000,000. The potentiality of these 
100,000,000 will not simply be double that of the 50,000,000 in 1880. 
In productive power, in the magnitude of financial and commercial 
operations, each unit in 1913 will represent more than double the 
capacity of each in 1880. Measured in this way, our population ten 
years hence will have a potentiality equal to what 200,000,000 would 
have had in 1880. In the machine age in which we are living progress 
is so rapid that we can scarcely keep track of it, much less forecast its 
future. 

Labor-saving machinery where one man does the work of a hundred, 
electric energy, electric light, the telephone, the railroad, all of which 
have reached their present development during less than a quarter of 
a century, have wrought a revolution in human affairs, and still we 
seem to be only at the beginning. While they have vastly increased 
our productive powder, they have to a still greater extent increased the 
demand for labor and the opportunity for employment. As I have 
just stated, in 1880 the United States made 3,800,000 tons of pig iron; 
now we are making at the rate of over 18,000,000 tons. Then we 
mined 42,000,000 tons of bituminous coal, or three-fourths of a ton 
per capita; now we are mining at the rate of nearly 300,000,000 tons, 
or about 3f tons per capita. Ten years hence, even at the present 
rate of consumption per capita, we shall be mining 400,000,000 tons a 
year. But with the accelerating rate of consumption per capita it is 
quite certain that the production then will be 500,000,000 tons a year, 
provided railroad facilities can be provided rapidly enough to handle 
it. In 1880 we had 92,000 miles of railroad, mostly laid with light 
rails; now we have over 200,000 miles, and largely of heavy rails. In 
the last seven years alone the railroad traffic of the country has 
doubled, and even to-day nearly every railroad is burdened with 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


103 


more freight than it can promptly handle. As late as 1890 the total 
value of our manufactured products was 19,000,000,000 and of our 
agricultural products $3,000,000,000; now we are turning out $15,000,- 
000,000 of manufactured products and $5,000,000,000 of agricultural 
products a year, or a total of $20,000,000,000, against $12,000,000,000 
a year then. 

What we have done in the development of industry, in domestic 
and foreign trade, in the saving of by-products by the skill of the 
expert, is but a beginning. We have simply made a good start in 
laying the foundation for our industrial structure. We have become 
a world power not by virtue of Manila and Santiago, but by virtue of 
the fact that we have become the leading power in agriculture, in 
industry, and in wealth. Midway between Europe and Asia stands 
this, the most richly endowed continent of earth, with a population of 
80,000,000 active, virile people unvexed b} T the arbitrary laws of dif¬ 
fering nationalities as in Europe, the foremost in general education, 
the foremost in wealth, the foremost alike in manufactures and agri¬ 
culture of all the nations of the world. Man never before conceived 
of such possibilities as the future holds out to us. Why, then, should 
our progress in the next fifty years be less than it has been in the last 
fifty? And if we only do as well in the coming half century as we 
have done in the last, the figures which I have suggested, enormous 
as they are, are not beyond the range of possibilities. The improve¬ 
ment of the Mississippi River, looking not alone to the present, but 
to the future, should be studied in the light of an advancement so 
great as to stagger the mind as we attempt to forecast it. 

Proper leveeing of the Mississippi River will bring into cultivable 
condition 30,000 square miles of alluvial soil in Arkansas, Mississippi, 
and Louisiana alone, upon which, with the prevailing methods, which 
are by no means the best, may be raised double the present cotton 
crop of the whole country, which, with its seed and with cotton at 
8 cents a pound, would yield $1,000,000,000 annually. The world is 
crying for more cotton. England and the Continent are seeking to 
develop its cultivation in the heart of Africa. Even the president of 
the New England Cotton Manufacturers’ Association at its annual 
meeting a few weeks ago expressed the hope that cotton production 
might be increased in other countries in order to increase the world’s 
supply. But here is a region which may be reclaimed b} r national 
work large enough to produce twice as much cotton as the whole South 
now grows—a region which could add a billion dollars a year to the agri¬ 
cultural output of the country. That, however, is but a part of the 
value of this work. Proper leveeing would not simply mean the add¬ 
ing of 200,000,000 acres or more of the most fertile soil in the world 
to our national domain; it would mean untold wealth added to the 
region drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, and thus to the 
whole country. Can any man imagine that any country in Europe 
with such an opportunity before it would hesitate for one moment in 
embarking upon a plan comprehensive enough to measure up to such 
unbounded possibilities. 

When Holland, with its less than 5,000,000 inhabitants, can spend 
hundreds of millions to reclaim a comparatively small area; when 
France and Germany and Austria and Russia can likewise spend hun¬ 
dreds of millions in vast enterprises for improvement of waterways; 
when Manchester can invest $30,000,000 in a canal in order to become 


104 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


a seaport, and when Mexico and Brazil and Argentina can under¬ 
take harbor improvements which cost for individual ports from 
$10,000,000 to $25,000,000, how can Congress hesitate in assuming the 
responsibility of building such a levee system as will forever protect 
the Mississippi Valley from overflows, reclaim 20,000,000 acres of 
land, forever protect the whole Mississippi Valley region—from the 
Allegheny Mountains on the east to the Rocky Mountains on the west, 
and from the Lakes on the north to the Gulf on the south—from the 
possibility of this great river ceasing to be a mighty highway of com¬ 
merce and a regulator of freight rates more potent than all the rail¬ 
road commissions ever devised by State or National Government. 

It may be well to bear in mind that those 30,000 square miles are 
about the same area as that which supports the 4,500,000 population of 
Holland with 234persons to the square mile, and the 6,100,000 popu¬ 
lation of Belgium with 590 persons to the square mile. When we think 
of that and remember, too, that England has 536 persons to the square 
mile, Italy 274, Germany 247, France 192, Switzerland 190, and Aus¬ 
tria 162, does the time seem so distant when, with an area of more than 
double that of the combined areas of these European countries, this 
Mississippi region will have reached the position predicated upon its 
having but 90 persons to the square mile? 

At any rate, its interests are already so stupendous and so intimatety 
related to the interests of the whole land that anything affecting for 
good or ill the one must in like manner affect the other. The improve¬ 
ment of the Mississippi is a matter vitally affecting all. Its accom¬ 
plishment upon the lines sketched in the call for this convention means 
the enhancement, almost inestimable, of American commercial, indus¬ 
trial, agricultural, and social prestige. This is, indeed, a national, not 
a sectional, problem. 

This national character of the problem is no novel or radical concep¬ 
tion. It was notably emphasized in the following resolutions adopted 
by a convention held at Memphis, Tenn., in July, 1845: 

“ Resolved, That safe communication between the Gulf of Mexico and 
the interior, afforded by the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio 
rivers and their principal tributaries, is indispensable to the defense 
of the country in time of war, and essential also to its commerce. 

“Resolved, That the improvement and preservation of the navigation 
of those great rivers are objects as strictly national as any other pre¬ 
paration for the defense of the country, and that such improvements 
are deemed by this convention impracticable by the States or indivi¬ 
dual enterprise, and call for the appropriation of money for the same 
by the General Government. 

u Resolved , That the deepening of the mouth of the Mississippi so as 
to pass ships of the largest class, cost what it may, is a work worthy 
of the nation and would greatly promote the general prosperity. 

“ Resolved , That the project of connecting the Mississippi River with 
the lakes of the north by a ship canal, and thus with the Atlantic 
Ocean, is a measure worthy of the enlightened consideration of 
Congress. 

“ Resolved, That millions of acres of the public domain lying on the 
Mississippi River and its tributaries, now worthless for purposes of 
cultivation, might be reclaimed by throwing up embankments, so as to 
prevent overflow, and at this convention recommend such measures 
as may be'deemed expedient to accomplish that object by a grant of 
said lands or an appropriation of money.” 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


105 


The president of that convention, which contained about 600 dele¬ 
gates from Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Iowa, Kentuck}^, 
Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, and Ohio, was John C. Calhoun, 
of South Carolina. We all recall his pronounced views as to the strict 
construction of the Constitution, and as to the relation of the General 
Government to internal improvements. That knowledge strengthens 
the force of his consideration of the Mississippi Iliver as a great 
inland sea and of the following statement in his opening address at 
the convention: 

“ Ip relation to the great highway of western commerce at least, 
the great inland sea of the country—the Mississippi—he did not for a 
moment question that Government was as much obligated to protect, 
defend, and improve it in every particular as it was to conduct these 
operations on the Atlantic seaboard. It was the genius of our Gov¬ 
ernment, and what was to him its beautiful feature, that what 
individual enterprise could effect alone was to be left to individual 
enterprise; what a State and individuals could achieve together was 
left to the joint action of States and individuals; but what neither of 
these separately or conjointly were able to accomplish, that, and that 
onty, was the province of the Federal Government. He thought this 
was the case in reference to the Mississippi River.” 

The Great Channel of National Commerce. 

[By Hon. John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi.] 

Gentlemen and fellow-citizens of the valley, after the descriptio 
persona uttered by my friend Charlie Scott, I was somewhat surprised 
to learn that the lame and impotent conclusion was myself. [Laughter.] 

My friends, a great poet has said, in language the exact verbiage of 
which I can not now recall, that it is a work of great inutility to attempt 
to paint the lily, to gild refined gold or to add perfume to the violet. 
After all the discussions which you have heard in this convention, for 
me to attempt to do anything would be a regilding, a repainting or a 
reperfuming. [Laughter and applause.] I would either repeat some¬ 
thing which had already been said, and repeat it not quite so well as 
original^ uttered, or I should display a woeful lack of information 
about the technicalities of the situation with which the valley people 
are confronted. 

My friends, a cause in the hands of Charlie Scott, of Tom Catchings, 
and of Mr. Blanchard and their colleagues from those sections here 
represented is safe without a word added from anybody. [Applause.] 
On yesterday somebody came to me and wanted me to vote for a pro¬ 
posed resolution which they said these gentlemen had indorsed. I 
said: 44 It is useless to read it to me. I wouldn’t know any more about 
its beneficial effects after I had heard it than 1 do now. If it has been 
indorsed by those men it is all right. I am willing to follow them 
upon any- subject, from the purchasing of a hamestring to the organi¬ 
zation of a celestial choir.” [Laughter and applause.] 

My friends, neither by immediately previous study nor by present 
physical condition am I prepared to enter into an elaborate discussion 
of the problems with which we are confronted, ana even if I were pre¬ 
pared and willing to do so, it would be absolutely useless. It would 
be useless because I am a child of the valley, and no matter what 


106 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


political entanglement, no matter what personal associations may sur¬ 
round me, I am never ashamed of being its child, and I shall never 
forget my parent nor her interests. [Applause.] 

It is therefore only necessary for me, I hope, to say that in every 
relationship in life, private or public, 1 am with you, with what you 
want, identical with you in tradition, in sentiment, in aspiration, in 
purpose, with you in heart and in soul, in strength, in voice and in 
vote, wherever 1 am thrown. [Applause.] 

A great many people during this convention have described the 
Mississippi River; it is the great national sewer; it is the great chan¬ 
nel of commerce. My friends, it is for the future a great artery, not 
only a national but an international artery, and within less than 1 
mile from where I now stand is the heart from which the artery goes 
out to the trade channels of the world. The mouth of the Mississippi 
River is the commercial and industrial center of the world. [Applause.] 
Look at that map one moment. See how this whole continent con 
verges toward that point. For some time, owing to political reasons 
or to sectional reasons, commerce has followed eastern and western 
lines. But, my friends, the natural lines of commerce are north and 
south and south and north. Organized commerce is but the exchange 
of products through the instrumentality of a token representative, 
money, or directly. That exchange of products must be the exchange 
of divers products, and diverse products are the result of differences 
of latitude. So that, in the long run, commerce consists in trading off 
for one another the products of totally dissimilar climates, and hence 
it follows that it must run along Northern and Southern lines, or, at 
any rate, perpendicular to isothermal lines, whether they are strictly 
northern and southern or not. [Applause.] 

There is another consideration. There is no great empire which 
has ever existed which has not been founded upon the alluvial lands 
of some great river. When civilization first had its birth, way back 
yonder in prehistoric times (prehistoric in so far as the written record 
goes, although not altogether prehistoric as far as concerns hiero¬ 
glyphics and stone-markings), away back in the days of Babylonia and 
Assyria, their civilization was founded upon the local situation in the 
valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris. Later on, when the civiliza¬ 
tion of Egypt arose, its basis w^s the Nile, and the civilization of the 
greatest branch of the English-speaking people, the peace conserva¬ 
tors of the world, will center in another great valley, the deposit of 
another river, the greatest of them all, the Mississippi. [Applause.] 
In connection with this question there are some things that perhaps 
you would like to hear a strict constructionist Democrat express him¬ 
self about. [Laughter.] By the way, I am very much refreshed now 
and then to find a question which is nonpartisan; but this is one of 
those questions. [Applause.] But I have heard some discussion as 
to that, and so I want to call your attention to the fact that the two 
greatest strict constructionists or the two strictest great construction¬ 
ists who have ever lived in this country—the great Carolinian, John 
C. Calhoun, and the great Mississippian, Jefferson Davis—have both 
united in the opinion that strict construction itself includes the Mis¬ 
sissippi River as part of the burden and part of the duty of the 
National Government. [Applause.] 

My friends, when the Constitution granted to the Federal Govern¬ 
ment the regulation of interstate and foreign commerce it granted the 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


107 


two powers under the same clause and upon exactly the same footing. 
It would seem curious, therefore, that there has never been any ques¬ 
tion raised as to the exclusive right, the exclusive power, and the 
exclusive duty of the Federal Government, in connection with the 
seaports and harbors, the great bearers of foreign commerce, and that 
yet a question should have been raised in connection with the great 
rivers, which are the bearers of interstate commerce—both taken away 
from the States and both vested in the National Government under 
exactly the same clause. 

John Marshall decided long ago, to go to another point, that where 
it is once admitted that the end was Federal or national, every means 
necessary or proper toward the attainment of that end was likewise 
Federal or national. 

Now, then, the Constitution has another clause of great importance 
to a strict constructionist, to a latitudinarian, or whatever else a man 
may be, and that is the one vesting exclusive proprietary rights in 
navigable rivers in the United States Government. Why, if I own a 
disreputable old mule or a breachy hog that will get over the fence 
and destroy my neighbor’s crops, the law holds me responsible for the 
damage; and when the Federal Government owns the Mississippi 
River, so absolutely unmanageable by ordinary power as to have 
elicited from Sargent Prentiss, the great Mississippian, a doubt of the 
Divine Omniscience, then certainly the Federal Government ought to 
control it and prevent its ravages. [Applause.] It is nothing but a 
simple principle of justice which forbids any man, any community, or 
any nation to permit injury to the property of others bv its own 
propert}^. [Applause.] 

You will remember that Sargent Prentiss once said that no man had 
greater reverence or less blasphemy in his heart than he did, and that 
he had the highest regard for the Divine Omniscience, but there were 
three things about which he sometimes doubted whether the Almighty 
Himself knew in advance what they were going to do. One was a 
petit jury in arriving at a verdict, another was a woman in selecting a 
husband, and the third was the Mississippi River in the next bend or 
cut-off that it might choose to make. [Laughter and applause.] 

By the way, here I may utter a little practical sense, as far as I am 
capable of it, for I have sometimes been accused of being absolutely 
incapable of it. [Laughter.] It seems to me that the line of procedure 
immediately before you is almost exactly in accord with what was said 
by mv colleague, one of the most useful members of Congress, Mr. 
Ransdell. of Louisiana. [Applause.] The Mississippi Valley is a 
great thing, but even- man that comes to Congress has a great thing 
in his own opinion and in the opinion of his constituents, and which 
great thing must be attended to, and attended to immediately. I re¬ 
member myself the time when it seemed to me of the very highest 

importance that the Buckatunna branch of the-Creek, which 

flows into the-River, should be fixed by the National Govern¬ 

ment. [Laughter.] 

My friends, some of these days the great valle}^ between the Alle¬ 
ghenies and the Rockies will hold the political power of this country in 
the hollow of its hand; but just at present it doesn’t. The people of 
Vermont, the people of New Hampshire, the people from the State of 
Washington and from the State of Oregon are not going to admit that 
the lion’s share of everything belongs to me and to you. It is therefore 
necessa^ always to keep in mind that in order to arrive at an approxi- 




108 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


mation of what you really want you must let the other fellows have 
an approximation of what they really want. [Laughter and applause. 
You must therefore increase your rivers and harbors bill. [Applause. 

Now, I feel somewhat disposed to make a sort of ad hominem reply 
to something said by ni}^ friend Charlie Scott, who complimented me 
ver}^ highly on yesterday, but whiplashed me just a little while he was 
doing it. Still, I don’t mind a whiplashing from Charlie Scott, because 
I know it is but the chastisement of an elder brother or of a parent. 
[Laughter.] I think we might make this proposition to the Federal 
Government: That they give us one dollar for rivers and harbors for 
every two dollars which they devote to the maintenance of the fetich 
worship in the Philippine Islands. [Applause.] They tell us it will 
require $20,000,000 to finish the levee system upon the Mississippi 
River. It requires now $140,000,000 a year to maintain the dignity 
and the world power of the American Union among a lot of naked 
little brown men in the Philippines. [Laughter and applause.] I 
apologize for that utterance, however, because it is totally out of place 
here. [A voice: u Go ahead; you’re right.”] Nothing but my fraternal 
affection for my friend Charlie Scott would have elicited it from me. 

My friends, let us consider whether the Federal Government has 
the constitutional power to do what we want. I shall not dwell upon 
that any more. Has it the financial power to do what we want? Un¬ 
doubtedly. The Federal Government wastes every } r ear from three to 
five times as much money as would finish this great work. The work, 
however, is begun, and it will go on until it is finished, and sitting in 
my seat there on 3 ^esterda}% closing my e} 7 es for the time to shut out 
divergent sights, and turning my ears deaf to everything else, it 
seemed to me that I saw something awa}^ down the vista of the future, 
and that something was this: The time when the lands in this great val- 
ley^, richer than those in the valley of the Nile, richer than the lands 
of Belgium and of England, richer than the valley of the Po in south¬ 
ern Italy, which are worth from $500 to $1,000 an acre, will be worth 
their full value in the market to the man who works them and to the 
man who owns them; and in that picture it seemed to me that the 
National Government had buttressed every concave of the Mississippi 
River with solid granite. [Applause.] The time will come some day 
when that will be done, but it is not practical statesmanship now. A 
man that would go before the next Rivers and Harbors Committee 
with a granite proposition would be laughed out of Congress as a fool, 
and deservedly so [laughter], and especially if he wasn’t in accord with 
the idea of the people along Buckatunna Creek. [Laughter.] All 
these things will come in time, however. 

My friends, I was sincere when 1 said 1 was neither in a physical 
condition nor prepared in any way to say much on any line. I hope, 
however, I will never see the time when I am so unprepared mentally 
and so weak physical^ as not to remember that I am a child of the 
valley, and that my first duty is toward my beloved parent. [Great 
applause.] 

Interrelation of Many Broad Subjects. 

[By Hon. George H. Maxwell, executive chairman National Irrigation Association.] 

Gentlemen of the convention, I wish to say at the start that the 
subject of the few remarks which 1 shall make at this late hour of the 
day is not to be confined to reservoirs. I think that most of us who 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


109 


have passed through the process of evolution which finally resulted in 
the passage of what is known as the national irrigation act, at some 
time in our experience were under the impression that the construc¬ 
tion of reservoirs by the building of dams would largely reduce the 
floods of the lower Mississippi. I believe that all of us who have 
given the subject serious thought and study have come to the same 
conclusion that the result of such a system of reservoirs, if it would 
have an appreciable effect on the lower Mississippi, would do so at a 
period so remote from the present that it could not at this time be a 
solution of the problem of immediate protection from danger of flood 
in the lower Mississippi Valley. 

In saying this, however, I do not yield one iota of the importance of 
the reservoir theory as the plan for the future, and I came here to-day 
in the hope and expectation that if a few moments of your time could 
be accorded to me it might be possible to bring about a better under¬ 
standing of the relations, not of reservoirs alone, but of the whole 
irrigation problem and the whole forestry problem to the subject of 
the levees on the lower Mississippi; so the text of the address which I 
suggested J would deliver was not reservoirs, but the relation of for¬ 
estry and irrigation to the levee problem. 

I have been more than repaid for the time I have taken to travel 
here in sitting and listening to the words of wisdom and drinking at 
the fountains of knowledge that we have all sat and listened to and 
drank at as we have heard the addresses delivered in this convention. 
[Applause.] As I have tried to get this great problem into my mind 
from }^our point of view, it seems to me, after all, that the purposes 
of this assembly may be crystallized into two propositions. They 
have been stated clearly by Senator Berry, but perhaps I can restate 
them in a way that will make a little clearer how closed your problem 
is linked to ours of forestry and irrigation. 

As I gather your idea and what you want to accomplish, it is this. 
Mr. Ransdell outlined it when he showed you that the proportionate 
increase in the river and harbor bill had been 42 per cent and in that 
for fortifications 2,500 per cent. The position that you and the people 
of the Mississippi Valley and the people of the whole United States 
want to take is that the levees which will hold back the demon of 
destruction at your doors are fortifications. You want to get out from 
behind the stalking ox of the river and harbor bill and let this country 
take up the broad proposition of protecting your homes and your 
lives from destruction as one which has constitutional justification and 
warrant outside and independent of the question of commerce. 
[Applause.] 

The irrigation question no longer figures in the river and harbor 
bill, and I am thankful for it. As long as we tried to hook our irriga¬ 
tion car behind the river and harbor train we were where we didn’t 
belong. The irrigation problem, just like the problem of protection 
from floods, is a great national problem by itself; but the two have 
such a close relation that it is no more possible to separate one from 
the other than it is possible to separate the ray of light that comes from 
the suu at the point where it strikes the earth. 

I will give you a few figures merely as an illustration of why the 
irrigation problem is broader, many times, than the mere question of 
reservoirs. You are face to face with a serious proposition in your 
lower Mississippi Valley. I wish that instead of this , map which 


110 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


hangs on the wall we had the one which was distributed here the first 
day of your convention, which showed the entire drainage basin of the 
great Mississippi River and its tributaries. If you will look at the 
figures on the canvas before you you will see that 527,000 square miles 
out of a total of 1,240,000 drained by the Mississippi River are in the 
drainage district of the Missouri River. Now, I want to ask you this 
question: If it be a fact that the great rise in the Missouri River— 
mark you, not a part of it, but the entire rise—can be held off and 
kept back, so that instead of coming to you in May it will come to 
3 r ou in August, isn’t that something that you waiit done? I am look¬ 
ing forward to the future. I want to say that you are wise, unques¬ 
tionably wise, in framing your resolutions to follow the advice of the 
great captains who have led you to victory before in what I believe to 
be the greatest legislative victor} 7 that ever was won in this country, 
in linking the Mississippi River flood problem on to the river and 
harbor bill. I don’t believe in swapping horses while crossing a stream. 
1 believe, however, that the inauguration of national irrigation marked 
a new era in our ational history, and that we are now within a few 
years of the time when forestry and flood protection will be taken up 
b} T our National Legislature as independent questions, as emergenc} T 
appropriations, and then, instead of having to wait from ten to twenty 
years for the money necessary to complete your levee system, you will 
not have to wait five years for it. [Applause.] 

But } T ou are face to face with a serious question. Look at the 
immense basin that } 7 our river drains. Is it not an appalling thing to 
consider that ever} 7 drop of waste and surplus water that falls from 
the clouds in that region must find its way to the sea down your river 
and through one of its mouths at the Gulf—the water that falls over 
1,240,000 square miles, or more than one-third of the entire area of 
the United States? 

Now, what was the condition of the great drainage basin I have 
referred to when the white man’s foot first trod it, when Boone journeyed 
over the mountains into the impenetrable forests of the Ohio Valley, 
when the great pioneers of the past went over into Illinois through all 
that vast waste which we have since settled and civilized? There were 
forests and swamps and sedge grass and prairies, all serving as a vast 
blanket to hold back the waters that fell and gathered; and it was 
weeks and months before that massive flood, covering hundreds of 
thousands of acres, found its way down to the river opposite the place 
where you now propose to build levees. Go out on the vast plains 
which drain into the Missouri River, that great basin of 527,000 
square miles, where in that long-ago day the grass grew luxuriantly 
and the mountains were covered with brush and timber. The cattle 
have beaten that grass down, and the sheep have eaten its roots, so 
that to-day you have millions and millions of acres of nothing but 
dust. The forests have been recklessly and wantonly wasted and 
burned and destroyed, so that you have hundreds and" thousands of 
acres of mountain ranges where once the cloud water fell and trickled 
slowly down through the trees and underbrush, forming little rivulets 
and springs, and finally finding its way down to the great river before 
you, all ravaged and barren, with its vast burden of water pouring 
instantly down upon you through the Mississippi. Under the condi¬ 
tions that now confront you, you must provide a way for the drainage 
of 1,240,000 square miles to come through to the sea. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


Ill 


I think you are unquestionably wise in the plans you have made for 
to-day, and next year, and the year after, and the next ten years; but 
you will not be wise in your day and generation if you do not recog¬ 
nize the fact that if the conditions which have been going on in the 
last twenty years continue in the future, you are going to see the time 
when from over this vast area of drained country the water will flow 
into 3 T our river faster than you can raise your banks, and your levee 
system will in time prove a failure. 

1 am here to-day, if for no other purpose, to appeal to \ T ou to take 
time by the forelock. “In time of peace prepare for war.” I urge 
you to join with us in bringing about a national policy which will coun¬ 
teract the influences that have been going on for so many years in 
that country, and, instead of having a rapid run-off of the flood water, 
increasing from year to year, you will have a decrease from year to 
year, so that if you will, within the next ten or fifteen years, complete 
a levee system that will protect you as conditions are to-day, it will 
protect you through all the centuries to come, as long as the foot of 
man shall tread this valley. This is, indeed, well worthy your con¬ 
sideration. 

Let us take up the question of irrigation. You have heard what I 
said about reservoirs. I listened with the utmost interest to what was 
said by your honorable chairman on that subject, and 1 want to premise 
by stating that what I now have to say is not intended in any spirit of 
controversy or criticism, but only to show you that there is more in 
this great problem of the irrigation of the arid regions of the Missouri 
Valley than any man in the Mississippi Valley has ever thought of. 

Take the single State of Montana. The Milk River, the Missouri 
River, and the Yellowstone River join and make one mighty river 
before it leaves that State. There is water enough passing that line 
to irrigate 10,000,000 acres of land, and that is not one-eighth of the 
total area of the State. Mark you the State of Montana is as large as 
the Kingdom of Japan, and if it were cultivated by some intensive pro¬ 
cess, if the waters now wasted were utilized for agriculture, it would 
support as large a population. But to-day Montana has 200,000 popu¬ 
lation and Japan 40,000,000. 

It is a mistake to assume that the reservoir system is the irrigation 
system, because it is but a trifling part of it. The great canals inter¬ 
lacing here and there in every direction are reservoirs, but the greatest 
of all reservoirs is the land itself, into which the water is poured, to 
find its way back in the seasons of the year when it is needed. 

Your floods don’t last long. If you could take off the crest of the 
flood 4 or 5 feet and hold it back thirty or sixt} r days the danger is past. 
Now, no one believes that the Missouri causes the floods of the Missis¬ 
sippi, but if you could check and hold back the Missouri and the upper 
Mississippi and the Ohio, wouldn’t it be worth your while? Don’t 
you think you ought to turn your attention to bringing about a national 
policy to do that? The first thing to be done in that direction is to 
maintain the forests that grow on and cover the hills and the mountain 
sides. 

I have learned by experience that there is a mighty mass of water 
in the Mississippi that doesn’t come from the Missouri. I started to 
attend the trans-Mississippi Congress some three years ago, but the 
train was stopped at McComb City by an overflow which didn’t come 
from the Mississippi. It came from the east. 


112 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


Now, do you know that your lumber companies are stripping the 
mountain sides in Mississippi and Tennessee, and that they are going 
to make them as bare as the western slopes are to-day if nothing is 
done to restore the timber growth? That will intensify the flood con¬ 
ditions here, and it is only one illustration of it. This great forestry 
problem stretches all around the country, from the State of Washing¬ 
ton to Arizona, from Arizona to Texas, from Texas to Louisiana, and 
thence on up the Atlantic coast to Maine and back to Washington. It 
is, of all the great problems of this nation, the one crying the loudest 
for national support, national aid, and national solution. There is no 
such thing as localizing it; and I say to you that you can do nothing 
to so much nationalize your levee problem as to couple it with the 
great forestry movement. Have your levees built, get your appro¬ 
priations, but do it as a part of the great movement which will include 
appropriations to restore and preserve our forests on the hillsides and 
on the mountain sides all over this vast area. 

Now, as to the Ohio River. This morning I asked a delegate from 
Pittsburg whether, in his judgment and from his information, it was 
possible, by a system of reservoirs in the Allegheny Mountains, to 
materially reduce the flood height of the Ohio. He said he believed 
it was. Now, if that be so, it might well be that, as a matter of flood 
protection alone, it would not pay to build those reservoirs. It might 
not have a sufficient appreciable effect on the floods to warrant build¬ 
ing the reservoirs for that purpose alone, but don’t you realize that 
the great coming source of power in this country is water power for 
the development of electricity ? They are transmitting electric power 
n California to-day from Yuba County to San Jose, a distance of 100 
miles, to light that city, while Los Angeles receives part of its power 
and light from a source 80 miles distant. There is not a single gorge 
or canjmn created by nature in the whole basin of the Ohio where a 
dam can not be built which, within the next ten or twenty years, will 
develop in the furnishing of power a sufficient revenue to amply pay 
for its building. If forestry were looked upon to be, as it is, as 
important a matter as the Army, the Navy or any great work of 
national defense taken care of by the Government, and if the National 
Legislature would undertake reforesting’ and the protection of the 
existing forests in a comprehensive and effective way the water that 
would be held up and stored along the valley of the Ohio would meas¬ 
urably affect and diminish the floods that come down that river into 
the Mississippi. 

The question of irrigation is getting to be better understood than it 
was a few years ago. We are getting to understand that the work is 
worth more than it costs, year Ity year, dollar by dollar, to the dairy¬ 
men of Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as to the farmer of Illinois, 
Iowa, and Nebraska, and as soon as the profits derived from irrigation 
become even better appreciated, it wflll only be a question of a short 
time before the farmers of the vast territory which drains into the 
Mississippi River above Cairo will be utilizing as much of that water 
as they can hold back for the purposes of irrigation. 

These are facts you have not given a thought to, and }mt you will 
find, if you study the proposition, that there is a great field there— 
not to avoid the necessity for levees, not as a substitute for levees, 
but to counteract the evil that has been going on for many years in 
increasing the rapid annual run-off of the waters from this great area, 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 113 

and for which you mud always furnish a waste-way here at the mouth 
of the Mississippi and through this lower valle}^ below Cairo. 

As 1 stand here and tell you all these things, you will say that I am 
very presumptuous to talk in this way; but in the last three years we 
have worked out in the national irrigation movement as great a prob¬ 
lem as yours, and even greater. Three years ago the idea that the 
Government of the United States would ever deliberately undertake 
the duty and the obligation of reclaiming the arid region was looked 
upon as an Utopian dream. Yet to-day it is an accomplished fact, and 
1 believe that if you would work along the same lines that brought us 
success you would not only accomplish what I believe to be the first 
thought in your minds to-day, but you would have your levees put 
upon the basis of fortifications, which would enable you to get your 
appropriations just as rapidly as the work was extended, and that it 
would also result in the adoption of a great national policy of forestry 
and irrigation, of which reservoirs are but a small part of a great 
whole, which would absolutely insure you against any increased 
exaggeration of the conditions leading to the present rapid run-ofi of 
floods with which you have to contend. 

Now I am through, with the exception of one or two matters which 
I desire particularly to bring to your attention. One of them is that 
the success of our movement was due purely and solely to the inaugu¬ 
ration and carrying on of an educational campaign. We took the 
ground, which was no more true of the arid regions than it is of your 
submerged areas, that agriculture was the basis of our national pros¬ 
perity; that every new farm created added to our national resources, 
and that the protection of the farms of this country, whether from 
fire or from drought or from floods, was just as much a national duty 
and called for just as strenuous and quick action as the building of 
battle ships to carry our flag upon the sea. [Applause.] 

In other words, the next session of Congress is asked to appropriate 
$100,000,000 for our Navy—and who regrets it? Every patriotic 
citizen of this nation approves it. And j^et, is not the great problem 
of the protection of our farms from drought or from flood just as 
important a proposition as the building up of a navy? If you will ever 
undertake, in the broad way that we undertook and succeeded in, to 
strike right at the very nerve center of this great nation, and to touch 
its great patriotic heart, you will have no trouble in getting for your 
levees all the money you want just as fast as it can be judiciously 
spent. [Applause.] And upon that line there is nothing you can do 
that will give more strength to that movement than to become a part 
of the great forestry movement, and to become a part of the great 
irrigation movement. We don’t want any more money for irrigation 
for a long time to come, and all we ever did get we propose to pay 
back. [Applause.] In other words, every dollar that the Govern¬ 
ment will be asked to expend in the arid regions to reclaim those lands 
will be paid back by the lands that are reclaimed. Our position is 
that if the time has not come when the lands will pay it back, then 
the time has not come to reclaim the lands. 

We have $16,000,000 now in the reclamation fund for construction 
work. The trouble is not lack of money, but the devilish ingenuity of 
the western land grabber, who is distorting and abusing the present land 
laws, the stone and timber act, the desert-land act, and the commuta- 

S. Doc. 245, 58-2-8 


114 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


tion clause of the homestead act; who is boldly attempting to steal 
and take away the heritage of the people of the nation long before the 
Government can build the works necessaiy. for its reclamation. 

We demand something which is of as much interest to you as it is to 
us, and we ask your help, not only on our own account, but because 
it is your problem as well as ours. We say that where the Govern¬ 
ment owns the forest lands it should never part with the title to them, 
but should sell the stumpage to the mill men, disposing of the matured 
timber as fast as the} r need it and preserving the young timber until 
it matures in later }^ears. In this way, instead of entirely using up 
our timber supply in forty j r ears, we will leave posterity to cut timber 
from the same lands for thousands of years from now. [Applause.] 

If this is to be done, the timber and stone act must be repealed, and 
that is what we want you to help us bring about. 

There is another plank upon which we want you to stand with us. 
We say that wherever there is a section of 160 acres of land in that 
arid region upon which water can be put so as to enable a settler to 
make a living out of it, no one should have that land unless he goes 
on it and builds a home and sta}'S there for five years; and no man 
lives who can stand up and justify any other policy. Yet, what is the 
law to-day? Under the desert-land act he simpty puts his foot on the 
land, makes his filing, does nothing to found a home or settle upon the 
land, and finally sells it to some of these land grabbers who are con¬ 
tinually seeking to distort our land laws themselves in this way. What 
is the result? It is the creation of great estates out there in the West, 
where thousands and thousands of acres have become absorbed in one 
great ranch, and the barbed-wire fence bars out the settler. 

We want that law to be repealed, and we want the Government to 
stand upon the proposition that every acre of irrigable land to be 
reclaimed shall be for the actual settler who will go out and live there 
and make a home on the land. 

We want the commutation clause of the homestead act to be repealed. 
That clause permits the speculators and the stockmen to absorb into 
great ranches for grazing purposes only and prevent settlement on 
hundreds of thousands of acres b} r what are called 44 hobo” filings. 
Men who have no thought of making a home on the land file on it, and 
at the end of fourteen months they get a title by paying $1.25 an acre 
for the land, and then sell the land to some speculator or stockman. 

In his last message to Congress President Roosevelt pointed out the 
evils of these laws when he said: 

44 In their actual use the desert-land law, the timber and stone law, 
and the commutation clause of the homestead law have been so per¬ 
verted from the intention with which they were enacted as to permit 
the acquisition of large areas of the public domain for other than actual 
settlers and the consequent prevention of settlement.” 

I want to say to you people of the South, who stood so nobty by us 
when we were asking for the passage of the irrigation act, that it 
would not be on the statute books of the nation to-day had it not been 
for the generous aid of the people of this section. We ask you now 
to stand with us again; stand with us even against some of the Senators 
and Congressmen of the West, who seem willing, unfortunate as it 
may be, that these laws whose repeal we demand should still disgrace 
the record of our country’s legislation. 

One word more, and I am through. I said that it would be wise for 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


115 


you to join with and be a part of the great forestry movement and the 
great irrigation movement, and I believe it. We are sowing the 
country with educational literature. We want to attract the attention 
of every newspaper and every man of this country to our cause. We 
want them to get into the way of thinking and knowing that all these 
great internal improvements, whether it be the building of levees on 
the Mississippi, the construction of reservoirs in Montana, the plant¬ 
ing of forests on the sand hills of Nebraska, the reforesting of one 
section and the preservation of the forests in another—that they are 
all part of one great problem; that they all alike concern and involve 
the general welfare of the entire country. We are helping you all we 
can; we are glad to have the opportunity of extending our aid in 
exchange for the aid that you have extended to us. But you can 
do much to help yourselves in the future by coming in and joining 
us in our work; by becoming members of the National Irrigation Asso¬ 
ciation and of the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress, and by 
attending the National Irrigation Congress. This great region should 
be represented in those bodies, not by a few straggling delegates, but 
by large State delegations from every Commonwealth in Dixieland. 

On my arrival in New Orleans I met a gentleman sent here from El 
Paso, Mr. Stevenson. He has asked me to present to you the invita¬ 
tion of the people of that city^ to have the whole Mississippi Valley 
represented at the next Irrigation Congress, which convenes in El 
Paso in November, 1904. 1 say that it is to your advantage that you 

should go. I was present, and I may say I drew up a large part of 
the resolutions that were adopted at the last Trans-Mississippi Com¬ 
mercial Congress, which was held in Seattle last August. We planted 
ourselves there upon a broad platform that we believe every man in 
this Mississippi Valley will stand upon with us, because it includes not 
only the proposition of forest preservation, not only the question of 
reservoirs, not only the subject of construction of great canal systems, 
but it likewise included the matter of the protection by levees of all 
this country that needs protection, and that at once. It helps you to 
have your project brought before a great convention of that kind, and 
indorsed not only by a specific resolution, but by a general declaration 
of policy as broad as that.. 

So I say we would like to see you attend these conventions in the 
future, because you will help yourselves by it. I would like to see at 
the El Paso Irrigation Congress as many delegates from this section 
as are present here to-day. 

It is a remarkable thing to observe how interest in this question of 
irrigation has grown. A few years ago we thought we were in the big¬ 
gest kind of luck if we had an attendance of delegates at our meeting 
of from 200 to 400, but in August at Ogden we had 1,300 delegates, 
and at El Paso we expect 2,000 and more. The people of this country 
have waked up to the fact that the cultivation of the arid regions and 
the protection of the Mississippi Valley are great national problems, 
and no longer sectional issues. 

There is one more suggestion that I want to make. I was told here 
that your sugar crop was short because of the drought. Now, I crossed 
your Mississippi River on my way to Arizona last March, when the 
water was so close to the top of the levees that I didn’t see how you 
kept it from running over. That great highway was full of water, and 
yet your fields were needing moisture. It seems to me your engineers 


116 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

ought to be able to devise some system under which you could get the 
use of a part of the immense volume of water that goes to waste in the 
Mississippi for the irrigation of your fields and their enrichment by 
irrigating the land with the silt-bearing water from the river. 

Out on the Colorado River the Government has sent out its survey¬ 
ors, and they are now engaged in planning for that valley a great 
system of irrigation works. The Agricultural Department, presided 
over by Secretary Wilson, who addressed this convention last night, 
has made a careful investigation, and they find that the actual cash 
value of the silt as a fertilizer is, I think, $5 an acre per year. 

We know that the fertility of the Nile Valle}^ has continued through 
centuries because the .land is constantly rejuvenated by the deposits of 
silt from the river water. I believe if you go on and complete your 
levee system as you desire to, and if your levees hold intact, in less 
than twenty years you will be clamoring for some system which will 
enable you to get the silt from that water on your lands for the pur¬ 
pose of the fertilization of your farms and plantations. 

I want to thank you for the patience with which you have listened 
to me. I did not intend to talk so long, but I got interested and you 
seemed to be interested, and I have taken more time than was my first 
purpose. I thank you very much for your close attention and cordial 
interest in this subject. [Applause.] 



O 


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